Practical Problems: A New Age
by That Engineer
Summary: Since all of reality had been changed thanks to the Super Genesis Wave, Kor found himself placed in a new timeline with a new history and dealing with conflicting memories. With another world crisis looming, how will the fox cope in this new, yet unfamiliar world? Set in Archieverse. Sequel to Just a Practical Problem. Rated T for swearing.
1. So, What's New?

**A/N: Hello fellow readers, welcome to the sequel of my previous story. I was thinking of doing the prequel first but this one really has my creative juices going, so I just had to get it out. For those who have been reading the comics, this takes place after the events of World's Collide, a Sonic/ Megaman crossover (not to be confused with World's Unite). Due to a series of unfortunate events, things have been permanently changed across the multiverse, for better or worse. As this story goes on, you'll even find that my own OC was also affected by these changes as well as the rest of the world.**

 **Also, don't worry about my first story. I'll still finish it, as I predict it could be done in about another 10 chapters.**

 **Disclaimer: All characters are property of Archie and Sega and except my OC.**

 **-Somewhere-**

Sitting in a prison cell, a person was lying on an old wooden plank that was chained to the wall, just staring at the ceiling as if it'd move. Despite light coming from the door, it was still a bit dark so you couldn't make out exactly what the person was except the blue eyes it had. It also had large, puffy tail that hung lazily to the side, so it was definitely a mobian. And judging from the growl emitted, it was a male. The mobian in question as trying to sleep moments ago, but the sudden ruckus outside awakened him. It must've been a huge fight going on, given how pieces of the ceiling cracked and fell.

He recalled how he ended up in this cell, who placed him there, and how he didn't get the chance to explain himself before being thrown in like yesterday's trash. Just the thinking about it angered him, but the mobian was patient. All he had to do, was wait for the right opportunity. He noticed the the fighting had stopped once he no longer heard impacts in the ground above, and minutes later he could hear 2 pairs of footsteps walking past his cell door.

"Naugus sure prides himself on magic, but this is some serious hardware. Where'd he get this stuff?" One voice asked. It sounded like a kid. The mobian glared at the door, knowing all too well who it was.

"First wave...powerless...stole from...Eggman, who...Tails Doll." Another voice, this one female, sounded like someone was speaking through a phone with bad reception.

Another few seconds passed, and he heard the door next to his cell open. "Nicole! Boys! Thank heavens you're safe! Did Naugus give you any trouble?" The mobian heard another voice say, his face softening a little. He remembered how Naugus had the real king thrown into a cell shortly after he was jailed. However, the next one to speak made his anger flare up again.

"Nope, just a laugh. He bailed before we could show him the door." A somewhat cocky voice replied.

"That coward! Oh well, I'm sure you'll find him in due time. I apologize for getting you captured Nicole. Had I not delayed, your physical form wouldn't have run out and...hello?" The mobian heard the king say.

"She's dealing with a...system error sire. Naugus must've done something to her." The kid replied.

"Then I'm doubly sorry girl! Is there anything I can do to repair the damage?" The king said.

"Do you know where Rotor is? And everyone else for that matter? We...kinda lost contact with everyone." The kid replied.

"Not directly, but I can point you in the right direction! Follow me!" The mobian heard the king say. Soon he heard all three leave, and it was silent once more.

Shifting his gaze to the floor, the mobian noticed a large piece of concrete fell from the ceiling. Looking at the door, a smirk grew on the male's face. Picking up the debris with little difficulty, he threw it hard at the where the door's lock met the wall. A loud crash was heard as the door was forcefully swung open. Stepping into the light, we see that the mobian in question was a red fox. The fox had some build to him and as well as a head full of dark bushy hair. He also wore a pair of brown boots. The fox squinted his eyes a bit from the light before looking around, making sure no one heard the noise.

"Well, that was easy." He spoke, a southern accent in his voice.. "Now to get the hell out of this city and call Hornet. But first... I need to get my stuff back." The fox grinned as he looked up the stairs.

Walking up cautiously, he noticed no guards or military personnel were nearby. Given that Naugus was king, the fox wasn't too surprised. Moving his way into a room full of confiscated weapons and other items, the mobian found what he was looking for. He strapped on an ammo bandolier that carried shotgun slugs, a helmet with hi-tech goggles and ear-attachments that fit perfectly on his head, and two of his favorite weapons: an automatic shotgun and a highly modified rocket launcher. He also grabbed a large, gray cube which he pocketed for later.

Pressing a button on one of the ears, the fox spoke as if speaking into a microphone. "Hey Hornet, it's me." The fox got a happy chirp on the other end. "Easy there pardner. Look, I managed to bust myself out. Sendin' ya coordinates to pick me up. I ain't expectin' to be followed, so don't worry about gettin' into a fight." And with that, the fox exited the room.

"Can't believe those idiots left me in a cell for three weeks...wasn't my fault them dumbass Sand Blasters tried to kill me. Given that they were assholes anyways, I would be doin' the world a favor takin' that shield projector and leavin' 'em defenseless..." The fox muttered with distaste. "But of course, they didn't give me a chance to talk...I know Sonic was impatient but he needs to sit his ass down for once..."

The fox made his way out of the back of the castle before slipping down the streets of Mobotropolis, stumbling slightly as a sudden earthquake happened. It was weak, but these natural disasters were happening way too often to be natural. The fox would have to look into this matter later though. He needed to reach Hornet, as he was sure it would love the upgrades he had planned for it.

 **-A few hours later: Sky Patrol-**

Ever since Sonic found himself back in Old Mobotropolis, he had been having conflicting memories. He remembered everything up to the point where he tried to restore reality back to the way it was, only for Eggman to interrupt him. The doctor had been so fed up with losing to the hedgehog he was willing to destroy all of reality if it meant he'd win. However, this only resulted in reshaping their reality into what it was now. Now, the hedgehog found himsself remembering events from a different perspective as well as remembering things he wasn't familiar with, but it seemed like he was. **(A/N: Those events being the games such as Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic Heroes, etc.)**

What confused him even more was that it seemed no one else remembered the old world, besides Nicole. Being that she was a computer, it was easy for her to store data, even between differing timelines. It also might explain why she had a large amount of genesis wave energy causing glitches in her system. Whenever someone touched her PDA, some of that energy was transferred to the person and it caused them to have memories of the old timeline. Naugus was the first to do this and fled, fearful of going insane. Next was Tails, followed by Rotor, Antoine, Bunnie, and (at the same time) Sally and Amy as Sonic found them.

Each time it happened, the person in question experienced a harsh headache followed by shock and anguish in some cases. In particular, Antoine and Bunnie were shocked they'd been in comas, and would've stayed that way had it not been for Klaus. Sally was the best example though. After realizing what she did as Mecha Sally, she practically broke down. However, after some reconciliation with her friends, she got better, but was still visibly traumatized.

It was pretty hectic finding the other Freedom Fighters: Rotor was secretly finishing preparations for a flying fortress called the Sky Patrol with Big keeping watch, Antoine was keeping Uncle Chuck safeguarded as he studied an odd substance coming out of the earth from the quakes, both Bunnie and Sally were in deep cover to get information from Eggman, and it seemed Amy and Cream were on an entirely different world helping Blaze collect the Sol Emeralds. They also found that their outfits had changed a bit as well.

Yet despite all this, the heroes managed to pull themselves together and were happy that they were a team once more. At the moment, everyone was on the main deck of the Sky Patrol, which still sat near the jungle of the Mystic Ruins. While everyone else was chatting about what they could recall, Nicole was looking into how the world was affected by the super genesis wave. Despite being in contact with all the other heroes, she still had a small amount of genesis wave energy left in her system. At least by now she could talk and project herself more clearly.

Looking through her screen at the others, it suddenly dawned to her they were missing someone. Big and Cream were the only ones who didn't touch her as the others felt they wouldn't understand the memories they receive, but that wasn't who she was concerned about. She felt as if someone very close to her was missing. Before she could dwell on that fact further, a warning signal got her attention. She looked at her readings further before being completely shocked. It seemed the super genesis wave did a lot more than she originally thought.

"Rotor! Launch the Sky Patrol _now_!" The A.I. yelled.

Rotor was a bit surprised by her request but went over to the piloting console and activated the ships thrusters. Everyone jolted a littleas they felt the ship take to the skies. The walrus then grabbed a nearby power ring. It seemed in this timeline, Nicole could project her physical form from her PDA if she had a decent source of energy. However, power rings didn't last very long and the holo-lynx would be back inside her computer either once the energy was used up, or the nanties that made up her form were damaged.

"What's the rush Nicole?" Rotor asked as he installed the ring. The A.I. assumed her physical form seconds later, a grave look on her face.

"The world didn't just get rewritten! It's...it's _far_ worse than I could've imagined! From analyzing what I now know about dual realities, I found it wasn't just our planet that was affected, or our reality for that matter...the _entire_ multiverse has collapsed upon itself!" Nicole stated, fear radiating from her.

"The entire multiverse?! How did something like that happen?!" Rotor asked.

"When the genesis wave was launched, every facet of reality fell upon itself and was recreated. Even our molecular makeup was changed to match our new histories. The first one only affected our world, but the second one affected _everything_! When reality was changed again, all of that energy was focused on our planet! The earthquakes we see? They aren't natural...it was a sign that the planet is tearing itself apart!" The A.I. explained.

"Woah, hold on there Nicole. We always save the world. Is there any way we can stop it?" Sonic asked, hoping to find a solution before the worst happened.

"'Stop it'? _It's too late_!" Nicole stated, taking everyone by surprise.

Looking out the window, everyone was horrified at what they were witnessing. The massive earthquakes caused the very ground beneath them to rip open all the way down to the planets mantle. Magma spewed out and large pieces of earth began to float upwards, as if gravity suddenly had no hold on them. Also, a strange purple energy began to leak out of the planet from almost everywhere. No one was quite sure what it was, but the heroes didn't have time to dwell on it further. The Sky Patrol received an open distress signal from the United Federation city known as Station Square, and it was gonna need all the help it could get, especially since it never fully recovered from Perfect Chaos' rampage.

 **-At the same time: Desert Badlands-**

"Shit! I knew the Earth was breaking up but I didn't think it was this bad!" The red fox from before yelled, startled from what happened. He barely managed to get Hornet to take off before the ground beneath them caved in.

The Hornet looked much like it did in the original timeline, but with a few differences. It had an overall sleeker body along with its gun attached to a gun pod located in the back. Its side bays were no longer used to fire weapons, but to store ammunition in its main body. Now, it fired a multitude of weapons directly from its mouth. **(A/N: How the Hornet was made was also changed as well)**

The mobian looked down at the large crack in the ground where 'his' base used to be. It was actually an abandoned Egg Army base. At the time, he was installing a new module into Hornet when the ground shook violently. He didn't know what was going on, but he sure as hell didn't want to be on the ground anymore. Feeling that might be the last time he'd use the building, he grabbed whatever was essential before giving Hornet approval to take flight. The fox was rather upset, but at least he finished his work, and there was no time for dwelling over lost ordinance. He could always get more later. Now was the time to find a certain duo and exact his revenge...

 **-Over Soumerca-**

The Freedom Fighters returned to the sky patrol, having just helped survivors in Station Square. At first, it was become too much for them to handle, but thankfully they got support in the form of a large, GUN-built flying fortress called the Letter of Gabriel. The ship's size rivaled that of the Death Egg, and from then on out both parties worked to make sure the survivors were led to safety. At the moment, Sonic and Tails were chilling at the meeting table while Sally and Nicole gave a report to King Acorn. The others were elsewhere on the ship.

"Ugh...what a crazy day. I almost completely forgot about our memories from the other world..." Tails said, slumping against the meeting table.

"Yeah...though I have a feeling we might have forgotten something..." Sonic said, kicking his feet up.

"I wonder what...I kinda feel bad about saying this, but our old memories...I feel like I should care about them but for some reason...it just feels like having a vivid dream, ya know? And even when you wake up after a while, it lingers..." Tails said, feeling a little uneasy.

"So it fades away, I get ya. But let's focus on one thing at a time bud." The hedgehog replied.

"Yeah... but you'll still remember everything right?"

"Of course. No worries." Sonic said, patting the kit on the head.

Sonic thought for a moment on how they could fix this mess, and then it hit him. Uncle Chuck was studying these quakes and a strange substance that came out of it. He went to Spagonia to meet with a colleague of his to compare notes. Hopefully they hadn't been caught in this mess as well. He noticed Nicole and Sally had finished with their report.

"Hey Nicole, can you give Chuck a call?" Sonic asked.

"We were just about to. Let's hope their lines are still up." The lynx replied. After getting static for a few seconds, they were met with Ben Muttski on the line, and he looked highly upset about something.

Ben was Sonic's pet dog in the original timeline, but after the shift in reality, he became a regular mobian dog. Both Sonic and Tails were rather disturbed about this when they first met, but quickly brushed it off.

"Yo Muttski! The university still standing? Are you hurt?" Sonic asked.

"Y-Yes and no..." The dog replied.

"Ok then shake it off buddy. Is Chuck there? I need to speak with him." Before Ben could say anything, the line cut out for a moment.

"So why do you need to talk with Uncle Chuck?" Sally asked.

"See, I'm thinking these quakes we've seen in the Wood Zone and Metropolis are connected to what we went through just now. Since Chuck was researching this weird energy coming out of the fissures, maybe he knows something." The hedgehog explained.

"That's...rather astute." Sally said, a bit surprised considering who it came from.

"Yeah, I'm totally that word you just said." Sonic said, giving a smirk.

The signal re-stabilized. "Sorry Sonic, but they took them!" Ben said with worry.

"Wait, who did?" The hedgehog asked.

"Eggman's badniks! They showed up out of nowhere and kidnapped both Chuck and Professor Pickle! They even took all of their research with them!"

"It seems Eggman wants to find a way to hold the world hostage...Nicole! Find out where they were taken. Sonic, gather the others for a meeting. We need to develop a game plan." Sally ordered.

The two nodded and went to work. Nicole searched the world map and did multiple scans for any of Eggman's robots that were in the area. After a few minutes, she discovered an Egg Train leaving the area heading towards the badlands. It's destination was Bullet Station, another one of Eggman's bases. Since there were no other units in the area, she had a hunch that train is where they'd find the two hostages.

Meanwhile, Rotor was on the command bridge checking the Sky Patrols systems. Since they had to launch earlier than he anticipated, he wanted to make sure his ship was in top condition. Having spent months building it, he made sure it was ready for anything, even a giant robot if Eggman decided to send one. Cream stopped by earlier and gave him a cup of tea. She would've brung coffee but his coffee machine was rather...complicated looking for lack of better words. The walrus nearly choked when a missile warning blared in the room.

The ship's defense measures easily destroyed it, but a few more were coming. "Guys! We're being attacked!" Rotor shouted into the comm system.

Sonic was the first on the scene before everyone else followed shortly after. "What's the deal Rotor?"

"Something is shooting air-launched missiles at us. I'm trying to find it on radar but nothing's popping up..." He said. Another missile warning blared before the missile was decoyed and steered away.

"Nicole, can you find the launch point?" Sally asked.

"Yes...it's coming from 10 miles in front of us." The A.I. stated.

"10 miles? How could something get _that_ close without getting detected?" Rotor asked, a bit stumped.

"I'm willing to bet it's Eggman." Amy suggested.

"Whatever it is, we'll send it packing. Get to the Tornado and Twister ready, see if you guys can find anything." Sally ordered.

The rest nodded and made their way to the hanger. Tails started up the Tornado with Antoine in the Twister. The Twister was built similarly to the Tornado in that it was a biplane, but its wings were swept back instead of being straight along with thrusters mounted under each wing. Both planes launched, Sonic riding on the wing of the Tornado, Amy on the Twister with Bunnie flying along side. As they neared the launch area, they couldn't find anything but clouds and a few large pieces of earth floating about.

"I am not zeeing anything." Antoine said, looking around.

"Same here, think it split?" Bunnie asked.

"I doubt it, cause I have the feeling we're being watched..." Sonic told them.

Just above the heroes, the Hornet hovered in the clouds, watching them through thermal vision. It wanted to fire a missile but it would alert them to its presence from a distance. Instead, it opted to use its cannon. Locking onto the Tornado, it dove down, closing to within effective striking distance. At the same time, on a piece of floating earth that was about a mile in diameter, a lone person was watching the planes through a scope.

"Time they fell for the trap..." The figure said, getting a lock on the Twister before firing a few missiles.

Antoine's plane blared the appropriate warning before he noticed a missiles coming at them. "Incoming!" He said, pulling aggressively to the right to dodge it.

Amy hung onto the wing as the plane banked sharply, noticing the missiles, and that something was above the Tornado. "Sonic! Above you!"

The duo looked a little too late as a stream of bullets hit the wings and the engine, causing the plane to spin. Tails pulled the stick hard to level it out, heading towards the largest piece of floating earth nearby for an emergency landing. The others avoided the missiles and got a good look at their attacker. If their eyes were betraying them, it was the same flying robot that Kor owned. Why it was attacking the Tornado, no one knew why, but if it wasn't friendly, they'd have to shoot it down. Antoine pressed the attack, firing missiles at the drone. Hornet produced chafe before reversing course, directly past the heroes.

"Sal, Ah think we found what was shootin' them missiles." Bunnie said through a communicator built in her arm before showing those aboard the Sky Patrol.

"Oh my..." Sally said.

"Looks like Eggman's but...wait, isn't that..." Rotor said.

"I confirmed...I knew we were missing someone, but with the current issues at hand I didn't have time to identify whom...that robot definitely belongs to Kor..." Nicole told them. Last time anyone saw it, Kor had shot it down after it was controlled by the Iron Queen. But the Hornet didn't look to be under foreign control, so why was it attacking people it should be allies with?

"Nicole, can you pull up any files on Kor? There might be something we can find." Sally asked.

"I-I'll see..." Nicole stated. It didn't take long for her to find something. Opening the database, she found a large amount of information, most of it ranging from dangerous jobs to security detail. However, one that stood out to her she found in the Mobotropolis Criminal Database.

Back with Sonic and Tails, the kit managed to land the Tornado safely, preventing more damage to the plane. "What was it that jumped us?..." Tails asked.

"I hope I'm not seeing things, but doesn't that look like Kor's robot?" Sonic asked, looking above them. The robot was still flying against the Twister, who kept attacking it whilst it dodged.

"That _is_ Kor's robot...but why would it..." Tails was cut off as someone spoke to them. "Hello boys..."

Looking to their right, they saw a red fox sitting on a boulder. Wearing the same gear and sporting the same rocket launcher seen before in this story, the two heroes without a doubt knew that it was definitely Kor T. Royce, and he didn't look happy to see them. But they noticed something a bit different from Kor. He did not have any noticable cybernetics such as a prosthetic hand, but they weren't sure about his eyes as they were covered by his helmet. He also had a more noticeable build to him.

"Kor! What's the deal with your robot attacking us? Did someone take control of it again?" Sonic asked.

"Again? What are you talking about you blue idiot? I ordered it to attack y'all." Kor stated, looking at a missile for his launcher.

"Why, what did we...oh now I remember..." Tails said, slapping his forehead.

"What's that?" The hedgehog asked.

"Last time we met, we had to bring him to jail because he was found to have murdered a group of people! And that was 3 weeks ago!" Tails explained.

"Oooh I get ya, now I see why he's mad."

"If yer tryin' to apologize, it'll get ya nowhere. And unlike last time, I came prepared." The red fox said, tossing a cube out.

The cube broke apart into pieced before the pieces had reconfigured themselves into a massive, moving vehicle that was armed to the teeth. "Boys, meet Terry. Terry, the boys who jailed me unjustly..."

'Terry', was actually the second mobile sentry gun that Kor had built to replace his original one after Mecha Sally destroyed it in the old timeline. It looked no different from it was first built aside from the fact its wheels had armored plating on them. Terry looked down at the two with its guns, priming them to fire.

"Unjustly? You murdered a group of freedom fighters!" Sonic said angrily.

" _You_ never gave me a chance to explain myself, and neither will I." Kor retorted before the sentry opened fire, causing the two heroes to dodge. The fox noticed Hornet still dodging fire from the Twister. He didn't want the other heroes to get involved as it wasn't their business, but they were becoming a nuisance in his eyes. "Hornet, shoot 'em back. At this point you're to keep them at bay while I deal with these two."

The drone complied before taking aim and shooting at the Twister and Bunnie, forcing both to dodge as missiles screamed past. It soon got on the plane's 6 o'clock, trying to line up for a gun kill. However, a blast from Bunnie diverted its attention, causing it to fire a couple missiles at her. Rotor and Sally watched from the Sky Patrol as they saw the situation get worse. They'd have to do something soon or the others would get hurt, or worse.

"Nicole, did you find anything?" Sally asked, a worried tone in her voice.

"I-I have...but...it makes this Kor much more different than the one I remember..." Nicole stated, putting some information on a screen.

Sally walked over and read it aloud. "Kor Royce, captured and sent to prison for the...m-murder of a group of freedom fighters?! Court date had yet to be verified, recently found to have escaped custody...this...this doesn't sound like him at all..."

"You think in this reality...he's become a villian?" Rotor asked.

"I...I don't know...but we can't sit here doing nothing! I don't want to have to hurt him, but there has to be a way to get him to stop all of this!..." Sally paced in thought before her eyes looked over to Nicole's PDA. The A.I. got a confused look.

"You still have any genesis wave energy in you?"

"I do, but it might be a moot point...there's barely any of it left..."

"Well, hopefully it's just enough. Come on Nicole, it's time for you two to have a reunion." Sally said as she unplugged Nicole from the Sky Patrol's systems and ran for the hanger.

"Wait, what do you have planned?" Rotor asked.

"Hopefully something not suicidal!" Sally yelled. Once she reached the hanger, she grabbed a hover board and sped out to the floating landmass. "Given what we've experienced, every time someone came in contact with you from this point on, they had flashbacks of our old world. Maybe the same will happen to Kor, and hopefully he'll call off his assault."

"Are you sure Sally? Given what I've read...he seems like the type to shoot first and ask questions later..." The A.I. said.

"I'm positive...we just have to avoid being seen by him..." Sally said, flying around the floating island to a point where she was above and behind Kor. She took out a power ring and attached it to Nicole. "Ready."

"Hopefully..." The A.I. said doubtfully.

Sally then threw her directly at the fox, who was busy shooting rockets at Sonic and Tails while his turret drove around doing the same. "Hey Kor!" She shouted.

The fox looked up just in time to see what looked like a lynx falling towards him. "What in the-" Said lynx used the fall to tackle him off the boulder onto the ground, knocking his helmet and weapon away. Nicole was a little dazed from the impact, but now she had a good look at the person she was originally close with. She noted the lack of cybernetics the fox had, but after a quick scan she detected a familiar metal device in his chest. Nicole was then certain that this was definitely Kor. Thinking quickly, she put her PDA in his hand.

Kor felt a surge of energy pass through him as he woke from whatever hit him. Then, he was shocked beyond belief as a wave of flashbacks pummeled his brain. The fox wasn't sure if they were flashbacks or visions from a previous life of his, but they felt important. He remembered everything, killing Gray on Mobius, joining the Knothole Freedom Fighters, building his two best projects, and even...his relationship with Nicole. Kor felt his head spun and held it as a major headache was coming on.

"Ugh...are these visions real?...Did I...did I have a past life I didn't know about?..." The fox said to himself, hand on his forehead due to the pain.

"Are you ok Kor?...Do... do you remember everything?" Nicole asked as she knelt next to the fox. Sally landed next to them.

"I-I think...I'm still tryin' to piece together..." He stopped as his gaze focused on Nicole. Instead of her usual purple toga, she wore a shoulder-less, sleeve-less dress with split tails and was decorated with a small broach. She also wore black pants along with gloves and shoes that had gold and silver cuffs respectively. He also noted that she let her hair down rather than have it in braids, which he found to be rather cute. "N-Nikki?"

Nicole smiled at being called her nickname. "Yes Kor, it's me."

It was then fox fully remembered their past relationship. The fox hugged her tightly and she returned the hug. "I missed you since the day I left to help hunt Eggman...but then, another wave of white hit us, and everything after that is a blur..."

"Everything was reshaped Kor. But, before I can explain, you need call off your robots..." Nicole said sternly.

Kor looked around and saw the battles going on. Any anger he felt before had vanished. Looking around for his helmet, he grabbed it and pressed a button. "Terry, Hornet! Cease fire! Cease fire!" At the same time, both robots broke off their pursuit. Confused, they headed back to their master. Everyone else followed them after seeing their supposed allies stop giving chase.

Once everyone met up, Kor noted all their changes as they did to him. "My brain is still trying to piece everythin' together, but did y'all look a lot different from what I remember." He scratched his head.

"We could say the same to y'all Kor. I noticed you don't have any cybernetics on you, but y'all sure seem to have grown some muscles." Bunnie said with a smirk, causing the fox to blush Antoine to glance awkwardly at his wife.

"Yeah well...I didn't suffer the accidents that would've brought that on..." Kor chuckled nervously. "Sorry about attackin' you guys. I had a beef with Sonic and Tails that I didn't want you guys to get involved in."

"I read it all on the case file we dug up on you..." Sally said.

"Sorry to interrupt but can we take this conversation on the road? Uncle Chuck and Professor Pickle won't save themselves." Sonic said, tapping his foot.

"Oui. We shall be continuing zis aboard ze Sky Patrol." Antoine said, heading back to the Twister.

"What about the Tornado? It's still damaged." Tails said, looking at it then glaring at Kor.

"Sorry 'bout that...HORNET!" The robot sat not too far from them and looked at its master. "Grab the Tornado and take it up to the Sky Patrol."

The robot complied before activating its wings. To everyone's amazement besides Kor, the bot wrapped its legs around the Tornado and easily carried it up. The fox then ordered Terry to break down back into its cube form, something everyone else remembered from their old timeline. Once Kor was ready, he hitched a ride with Sally back up to the Sky Patrol. Both sides had a lot of questions that needed to be answered.

 **A/N: I'd continue on but I think I'll save it for the next chapter. So as you can see, I skipped around a couple parts in the issues since I don't want to write that in since it'd be too much like the comics. But anyway, as you can see, the heroes have gathered once more, but so many questions need be answered. Why was Kor angry at Sonic and Tails? What happened to him in the past, and how will the heroes rescue Chuck and Pickle? Wait til next chapter to find out.**

 **As stated before, Hornet and the mobile sentry, now known as Terry, appear the same as they did in my first story, though with some slight differences.**

 **Also, the helmet Kor uses is actually a modified version of the Tin 1000 hat for the engineer, and the rocket launcher used is yet another skin made in the Steam Workshop known as The Follower. I use this skin for my Direct Hit, so take it as a heavily modified version of it if you will. I have some doubts about this chapter not being up to par with my original story, but we shall see.**


	2. A Mercenary's Tale

**A/N: Welcome to the second chapter people. In this chapter, we will uncover why Kor openly attacked the heroic duo as well as uncover a good amount of his history. You will also learn how his machines came to be and for what their original intent was.**

 **WARNING: Kor's flashback contains some graphic content.**

 **Kashkey: The only reason they had to do the reset was because of the lawsuit Ken Penders did on Archie. That's why characters like Julie-Su, Saffron, and many others are banned from appearing in the comics. Personally I hate those changes as those were some good characters that were thrown away. However, I will say the redesigns of everyone post SGW look pretty good, and they gave some real thought concerning the history of these characters.**

 **Disclaimer: All characters are property of Sega and Archie except my OC.**

The Freedom Fighters (minus Tails, Cream, and Big) and Kor gathered in the briefing room moments after entering the Sky Patrol. The hanger was big enough for Hornet to park itself in there, and it watched the young fox work diligently on fixing the Tornado. Tails cast a mean look at the robot a few times while it looked on innocently. Hard to believe something so deadly could look cute.

All eyes were on Kor, who had the bridge of his nose pinched in an effort to stave off the headache he still had. "Alright, so what do you want to hear?"

"We want to find out why you've been accused of murder, and what your side of the story is." Sally simply stated.

"Also, from looking from the files on you, it says you've done work as security and some...well I'd rather not say." Rotor said as he read a document he printed out.

"Well, it's a long story fellas, so I'm gonna start from the beginning so it makes sense..." Kor sighed as he jogged his memory for what he could recall.

"Think you'll be finished before we catch up to that train?" Sonic asked.

"What train?" The fox asked.

"Chuck and Professor Pickle were kidnapped by Eggman's badniks, so we're going to rescue them before they reach Bullet Station." Sally explained.

"Well, probably not..." The fox replied. "Anyway...about 3 years ago, things were pretty normal as normal could be in mah world. RED and BLU still fought each other daily over whatever was the objective like intel briefcases, bases, and occasionally we had to deal with Soldier's roommate Merasmus. On some days I handled my other friend's jobs if they had the day off, and at this point I've done just about every job on our team except being Scout or Spy. However, my main job was always being the engineer. Then, two and a half years ago Gray killed our bosses and tried to kill us mercs with a robot army, you guys probably know that. However, this is where it gets confusing on my part. I remember in my past life Gray was contacted by Eggman and the two conspired against us, which led to our meeting in the first place. However, what I remember now is that Gray realized he couldn't beat me and the others through militaristic means, so he took a bureaucratic approach and challenged Hale to a fight."

"Yeah, we've had issues with remembering two different timelines..." Sonic pointed out.

"Sorry to interrupt, but who is this 'Hale' person?" Sally asked.

"He's the CEO of Mann Co.: the company that supplied both RED and BLU with weapons. He hired us to defend said company against the robot hordes Gray created. You won't believe this though. The robots, actually ran on money!" Kor laughed. "Talk about a waste of cash, cause me and everyone else practically made a fortune slaughtering his tools!" The fox laughed harder.

"Kor, please stay on topic." Nicole informed, making him stop.

"Right...anyway there was a company policy that if you could beat Hale in a fight, you'd become the new CEO. Now typically, this was bad idea for anyone who challenged Hale as he could literally kill you with one punch. However, Gray used a loophole and had his niece fight for him, though I'm not sure if it _was_ his niece." Kor got shocked looks from the others. "Hey, he didn't kill her, he actually forfeited because he ain't one to hit little girls." Kor kicked his feet on the table as he continued. "So once Gray became our boss, he subsequently fired us mercs. No attempts to kill any of us for about 6 months, and during that time we pretty much lived our lives. I spent the time building Terry as I had planned to use it against Gray back during the robot war. It just seemed bad leavin' a project unfinished."

Kor glare then hardened. "Then, Ms. Pauling hired us again to hunt for the last of this substance called Australium. Basically, it had some weird properties which included living for periods of time. Gray had a life-extension machine that was hooked to his spine ran on the stuff, so when he started to run out he was gettin' desperate. As a result, he hired an old group of mercenaries that used to serve RED and BLU."

"So there was more than one team of RED and BLU?" Rotor asked.

"Yeah...Redmond and Blutarch's feud had been going on for the last two centuries, so there were at least 4 other groups before me and my friends made the scene. Anyways, those old mercs ended up turning on Gray, ripped out his Australium-powered implant as that was the only thing keepin' him alive, still attempted to murder me and my friends, but _we_ were the ones who put _them_ 6 feet under." The fox chuckled darkly, slightly unnerving the others. "So after that, we all just went our separate ways, though I still call 'em from time to time. Then one day, I was running some experiments on the teleporter and accidentally ended up in this world, turnin' me into a fox. Rather uncomfortable for a while, especially since I closed the door on mah tail many times..." Kor explained, glancing at his extra appendage.

Antoine started the chuckle just imagining it and was promptly elbowed by his wife.

"I'll be honest with y'all, I was scared out of mah wits when I first came here. Seein' talkin' animals at first made me think I was havin' a weird dream, but I was constantly reminded that it wasn't. Now that I think about it, I ended up somewhere in Yurashia. I spent about a week at a small village workin' to get the teleporter's signal back online, met some nice locals, and ran afoul with the Egg Army there..." The fox told them. Talking about his past was actually making his head feel better.

"How'd that happen?" Bunnie asked.

"They were tryin' to loot the place, but thankfully I had enough metal with me to make a dispenser and then build some sentries. They didn't expect to run into heavy resistance and had been beaten out. I even met their 'Egg Boss' in person, said her name was Conquering Storm. She was this lynx in some ninja outfit with cybernetic eyes and she called me out to a duel. Now she was expectin' a fair fight, but unfortunately for her, I _rarely_ fight fair." He gave an evil smirk. "I baited her into a trap which would've killed her if she didn't have damn good awareness, and while at their base I made off with some of their tech. With it, I finally managed to get back home, but...being in this world was very thrilling. After Gray was killed...my life had been pretty boring. So I decided to stay and see what else was out here."

"I can totally understand that." The blue blur smirked.

"While that explains how you got here, how'd you end up meeting Sonic and Tails?" Sally questioned.

"I'm gettin' there...once I returned to this world I spent months traveling around as a hired gun and security enforcer. I worked at some rather...shady places and a few jobs did involve assassinating people." Everyone else gave him a rather quizzical look. "Hey, my targets were Egg Army personnel, and trust me when I say they deserved to be sent to hell." This calmed them but not by much.

"Using some of the tech I raided from Egg Army bases along with some I bought, I gave upgrades to Terry so it'd be what it is now. As for Hornet...during my travels in Northamera I came across an abandoned Egg Army outpost and set up shop there. Thankfully, some of the computers there worked and I decided to hack into the EggNet just to see what the good doctor had stored in there. I came across plans for his elite E-100 series robots which included a super badnik variant of the buzz bomber. It looked promising, so I downloaded that particular file then deleted it off the database so Eggman wouldn't notice. Months passed as I built Hornet, making some adjustments of my own instead of what the blueprints said. The result, was a well-balanced and capable machine whose intended purpose was to be my answer to Eggman's E-100 series." The fox smirked. "In fact, I thought it was so well-developed I took up a desperate call in Midesta a few weeks later. Turns out the Egg Army had pillaged Shamar and were fleeing north on a highway."

"Wait...I remember Shamar sent a distress call to us about the Egg Army invading. We drove them out the city and we were preparing to go after them once we learned they stole many valuables. However, when we got there...all we saw were dozens upon dozens of vehicles destroyed with some still burning, and a lot of Egg Army personnel scared out of their wits..." Nicole said as she went over it in her memory logs.

The engineer grinned. "When I arrived, they were heading out in a large convoy with all kinds of vehicles: trucks, APCs, tanks, you name it. I ordered Hornet to take out the vehicles in the front while Terry destroyed those in the rear. It resulted in a massive traffic jam, leaving the whole convoy exposed and vulnerable. The next 15 minutes were spent destroying every single vehicle we saw out there. Most of the soldiers managed to get out of their vehicles before they were destroyed, though some weren't quick enough. Once I was sure everything was done, I got my pay and left. To this day, I think that incident is still called the Highway of Death, and it was the biggest highlight of mah career. Soon after, people were calling me and mah machines the 'Specialized Retaliation Squad'." Kor said, resting both hands behind his head.

"Well, that explains the mess..." Rotor said.

"I fail to see how you can be so proud of that Kor..." Sally replied, arms folded with an annoyed look on her face. "Seeing all of that destruction and the looks of the Egg Army after that incident makes all of it seem highly uncalled for, not to mention the fact a majority of the valuables had been lost..."

The fox grew irritated. "I was given explicit orders to destroy every vehicle I saw out there. The guy who paid me said he wasn't going to let the Egg Army enjoy their spoils, so I was rightly justified, especially since word has it the Egg Army in that area still hasn't fully recovered from that ordeal. In fact, my sentry performed so well, I officially gave it the designation 'Terminator', I just call it Terry for short."

Sally sighed in annoyance. While she was understanding more of the engineer's past, it still didn't answer the main question. "Look Kor, while I understand how your past is connected to all this, it doesn't explain why you murdered a group of Freedom Fighters. If you don't tell us why soon, we'll have no choice but to detain you once again..."

The fox sighed. "Fine...roughly a month after the Highway of Death, there was a lull in work so I spent the time giving Hornet upgrades. Given the amount of return fire it took from both the Highway of Death and some other jobs, I finally decided it needed a shield. Its armor was good enough to take hits, but it needed something more as most of the time spent repairing it was fixing its armor. I didn't want to spend time making one in case I got called out for something, so I figured I'd 'borrow' one from the Egg Army. Unfortunately, the one in Metropolis was too far away and too heavily guarded so I switched to my second target, the one protecting Sand Blast City."

 **-Flashback: Great Desert - Just outside Sand Blast City-**

A cloud of dust was seen heading towards the town. Upon closer inspection, it turns out to be the Terminator with Kor sitting on the front section, a determined look on his face. Sand Blast City was like a modernized old west town, so he knew the city contained some rather unfriendly people. He just hoped he wouldn't have to gun someone down just because they decided to pick a fight with him.

 _"I knew Sand Blast City was protected by a freedom fighter group, but from what I've heard from other locals in the desert, they were far from heroic. I've heard how they treated anyone with cybernetics as being lesser than them, even if they were innocent. I knew Eggman was connected to their harsh treatment, but still...I also heard they were forcin' people to join their cause, so I figured I'd be doin' everyone a favor leavin' 'em defenseless. The way their shield worked shut off the cybernetics of anyone who came into the city, which was potentially life threatening if they had replaced organs. I also found it shut off weapons not recognized by their system."_

 _"Were you affected at all?" Rotor asked._

 _"No. My uber implant didn't drive anything important, but I wanted to shut the shield down incase I needed to use it." Kor explained._

Kor had Terry stop half a mile from the dome. "Stay here pardner. I'm gonna go do some field work."

The sentry gave a noise in compliance before Kor hopped off and went inside. The sentry drove off to find some place to lay low. His helmet was useless thanks to the city's shieldd, and the radar in his rocket launcher was experiencing problems for some reason. However, Kor had two other weapons on him that would be useful. One was his full-auto shotgun with a drum magazine loaded, and the other was a feather-covered rifle known on his world as the Sydney Sleeper. He also had some special syringes on him in case things went south. The fox wore a brown-colored Texas Ten Gallon so he wouldn't be recognized so easily.

As Kor walked around, he took note of the populace. A large amount seemed like nice people despite their being some troublemakers in the group. He heard that the Sand Blasters, the freedom fighter group in this city, considered everyone there to be a freedom fighter, which Kor couldn't help but mentally facepalm. Half of these people looked like they wouldn't last a chance in a fist fight, never mind an actual warzone. Perhaps there was a way he could alter the shield instead of completely destroying it.

"Now, if I was a shield generator, where would I be sittin'?..." The mercenary spoke to himself as he looked around at the buildings. A number of them looked like regular houses, bars, apartments, etc. However, Kor then noticed what looked like a beam coming behind one of the larger buildings. "Bingo."

Sneaking around to the back, Kor stopped at a corner and saw large generator surrounded by heavy fencing, which was surrounded by a few patrolling soldiers. Inside the fence, he saw a large, brown bear wearing a tool belt looking like he was fixing something while a green horned lizard leaning against the fence.

"Ya done yet Avery? We've been workin' on this stupid thing for a freakin' hour!" The lizard complained.

"Hold yer horses Tex! You know the shield's been havin' issues lately, and ya sure as hell don't want Jack gettin' on yer ass if it suddenly drops." The bear known as Avery replied with an irate tone.

"Yeah Ah guess..." Tex grumbled.

After a few minutes, Avery shut the panel. "There, done. Ya happy now?"

"Yes frankly. Now we can go see if our new 'recruits' are willin' to cooperate." Tex grinned, opening the gate.

The two walked out and Avery activated a panel on the outside which electrified the fence. "Y'all make sure no one comes back here, or they'll be hell to pay!" The bear ordered, causing the guards to nod nervously. The two walked inside the building and closed the door behind them.

"This must be their HQ. Feel a bit sorry for these guys, but I got needs bigger than these punks..." Kor muttered. The fox studied the movement of the patrols before taking out his sniper rifle. Normally, the rifle was only used to fire jarate-covered darts, but the fox uses sleep darts for situations like this. Loading the darts one by one, he shot each guard and sent them on a quick trip to see the sandman. "Sleep easy boys." Kor chuckled.

Approaching the fence, he shut off the electricity and entered the perimeter. Inspecting the generator, he opened a panel and looking at the wiring inside. "Hmm, looks similar to Egg Army tech. Wonder how these guys got their hands on it." Kor muttered to himself. Moving another panel on the inside, he found the shield projector. However, he would have to shut the generator off before removing it, which would alert possibly the whole town. However, he was intending to do it anyways since he had Terry on standby. All he had to do was be ready for a fight.

However, as Kor moved to shut off the shield, his ear twitched as he heard footsteps behind him. Turning quickly, he found himself cornered by a group of 5 people he didn't want to have to deal with. Along with Avery and Tex was a brown wolf, a gray rabbit, and a green road runner.

 _"How did they know you were there?" Nicole asked._

 _"Found out they had motion sensors around the fence."_

"Well what do we have here? Ya lost pardner?" The rabbit asked in a cocky tone as he had a gun trained on Kor.

"Nope, just passin' by is all." Kor replied with a smirk.

"Passin' mah ass! Y'all was about to pull the plug on that there generator." Avery retorted.

"Maaaybe." The fox replied.

The rabbit squinted a bit at their intruder. "Haven't I seen yer face somewhere?"

"Possibly, from the media I bet. However, y'all should know me well enough by now, Jack." Kor told them, lifting his hat enough to show his entire face.

"Well well well, if it ain't Kor Royce. If we were expectin' ya to drop in, we would've given ya a warm welcome, but since yer trespassin', what are you doin' here anyway? Got business to take care of?" Jack questioned.

Kor gave a chuckle. "Well, you could say that."

"I gotta say Kor, Ah'm really impressed with yer machines. Someone managed to get a glimpse of your combat vehicle and I gotta say, it sure is a beauty." The wolf said.

"How about we take this inside. In spite of your sneakin' around, I'm willin' to let you have a nice stay, maybe even join our group." Jack said in a tone that sounded like an order.

"It sure is Shift, and unfortunately Jack...I'd rather not associate with the likes of y'all." The fox said with a monotone.

"You sure 'bout that? We're all heroes here, and we've heard a lot about the kind of stuff you've been into." Jack said.

"And I've heard all about y'all. You may think yer heroes, but yer far from it. Y'all ain't nothin' but a bunch of punks who let the power go to your heads. Sure, Eggman gave y'all a hard time, but that don't excuse how you've been treatin' everyone in this town." The fox glared.

"Watch your tone Royce...you have no idea what kind of hell we've been through. Those malformed people took our families away! It was because of _us_ that these people have somethin' to hope for!" Jack retorted.

"You mean through how you bullied everyone to be in yer gang? Half these people wouldn't even last in a fist fight, let alone a war. Also, in case you forget, a good number of those cyborgs are innocent. You can't blame them because they didn't have a choice..." Kor fired back.

"Actually, they should've thought twice about joining up with that fat head Eggman..." Jolt grumbled.

"At this point, I believe y'all out of options Royce. Yer outnumbered and outgunned. Now, y'all can surrender peacefully, or you'll be in a body bag." Jack grinned, cocking the hammer on his pistol.

"Actually, I plan on _leavin'_." Kor smirked before shutting the shield off. A loud noise was heard as the generator powered down. Some of the citizens began to notice and panicked. The Sand Blasters looked up before giving deadly glares at the mercenary.

"Wong move pardner..." Jack stated before the rest of them took out their guns and open fired at Kor.

The fox moved quickly behind the generator before taking out his shotgun and gave returned fire. The buck shots caused the group to scatter and take cover behind whatever they could. Once behind the generator, he shot an opening and ripped the projector out before stowing it away. As the firefight went on, Kor saw a chance to run for an alley and made a break for it once several bullets and lasers passed his position. As he ran, he noticed more and more soldiers closing on him, along with a few vehicles. He ran towards the closest building, which happened to be a bank, and pushed the doors open.

He shot a few rounds into the air to get everyone's attention. "Sorry everyone, but you need to get out now!" The citizens panicked and ran for the exits while Kor dove behind the counter. Soon after, dozens upon dozens of round flew through the front windows and doors, shredding whatever was in their way.

 _"Sounds like you really made them mad when you took that shield projector." Tails said._

 _"Oh hey Tails, when you'd get in here?" Kor asked._

 _"Just a minute ago." The kit replied._

 _"Oh. Well, yeah. I hadn't seen that many bullets flyin' since this one other job I was doing, except that time I hadn't sneaked in."_

Kor fumbled with his helmet before pressing the communications button. "Terry! Get over here quick! I'm pinned by a ton of fire!" He heard a beep before the line cut out. Then, for some odd reason, the bullets stopped. Kor cautiously looked above the counter and saw several bombs had been placed, enough to bring the whole building down. Eyes wide, and knowing he wouldn't make it to an exit in time, the fox took out one of the syringes he had. He took the cap off and stabbed himself in the chest with it right as the bombs went off. The whole building blew out and collapsed, causing a lot of dust to develop and envelope the Sand Blasters.

Jack coughed as he waved some of the grounded powder away from his face. "Nice job with the explosives Shift." The Sand Blasters had several technicals out there as well.

"Not a problem Jack. Always been mah favorite hobby of blowin' shit up."

"So much for the so-called 'leader of the Specialized Retaliation Sqaud'. Got killed for messin' with the Sand Blasters. Wonder how that'll look on the news." Tex laughed.

However, unbeknownst to anyone, a red glowing hand punched away some of the debris of the bank. In fact, they didn't notice someone approaching until they saw a red glow through all the dust. Confused, everyone watched on as the dust cleared to reveal Kor glowing a bright metallic red with his eyes giving off a yellow glow. The Sand Blasters were shocked as they were sure they killed him, but it turns out the needle the fox used was a electrified serum for the ubercharge.

 _"Wait, so you actually ubercharged yourself?" Tails asked._

 _"Not like I had a choice. It was either that or death, and I wasn't ready to die yet." Kor replied._

"You thought blowing up a bank would be enough to end me didn't ya? Well guess what...I don't die so easily..." Kor said in a dark tone, before walking towards the soldiers.

Reacting either on instinct or fear, they fired at him, but the invulnerability of the ubercharge made the bullets merely bounced off his skin. Taking his shotgun out, he shot several rounds at the soldiers which either killed or disabled them. However, they just kept firing, until another set of guns was heard the trucks started getting blown to pieces. Terry had arrived, and it was looking to add more kills to its current tally. While the 'freedom fighters' were distracted, Kor ran up to Avery and punched him right in his muzzle. The bear held his face in pain before the fox pulled him down to his level and pumped a few rounds into the bear's abdomen. He was dead before he even hit the ground.

Seeing this, Tex ran forward in anger and managed to strike the fox on his head with a wrench. However, this only caused Kor to flinch slightly and the wrench had been bent as a result. Kor turned his head and grinned evily. "Wrong move buddy." He wagged his finger before hitting the lizard with the butt of his shotgun. Once Tex was down, Kor stepped on his chest to pin him to the ground. Tex tried to move him but to no avail. Last thing he saw was Kor's evil smile before his head was blown to pieces.

Witnessing his two closest friends get murdered, Jolt decided to be smart and make a run for it. However, Kor noticed and took aim. He shot a few rounds which nailed the bird right in his leg, causing him to trip and fall. "You can't run from me, my gun is faster!" The fox boasted. Jolt cried in pain as he held his damaged leg, with Kor walking over to him.

"N-No please! Spare me! I-I didn't mean to try to kill you! Jack put us up to it!" The road runner pleaded.

"Don't worry, he'll be joinin' you soon enough." Kor said before shooting the bird in his chest, killing him.

Within a few minutes, the situation had calmed. Wrecked vehicles and dead soldiers littered the area along with the 3 dead members of the Sand Blasters. Jack and Shift were beaten, bruised and tied together in front of Kor. The fox's ubercharge had worn off and he was currently loading another drum into his shotgun.

"I didn't want to get into a fight with y'all Jack. I didn't want to have to kill all these innocent soldiers as I had no beef with them, but by bringing them into our little brawl, their deaths are your responsibility. Normally I would be in a forgiving mood, but since you tried to kill me and you shredded mah favorite hat...the only thing waitin' for you two is a shallow grave..." He glared at them after inspecting his now ruined Texas Ten Gallon. "I would shoot you myself, but I figured, why not let Terry handle it. After all Shift, you wanted a closer look at her, so here's your chance." The mercenary chuckled.

Both mobians gulped as the massive sentry trained its guns on them. "As my friend Medic would say, Auf Wiedersehen dummkopfs!" Kor grinned before the 30mm autocannons fired their deadly ammunition. All that was left of the two Sand Blasters was a large red stain on the ground.

 **-Present Time-**

The expressions of the Freedom Fighters could be summed up as utter shock and horror after Kor finished his story. Kor had went into great detail in explaining everything that happened, even how he murdered the Sand Blasters. They knew the fox had some screws loose, but this would likely give them nightmares for a while. They even felt sick to their stomach just thinking about it. Even Nicole found herself wondering if this was the same fox she once loved and not some evil doppleganger.

"I-I-Is there anything e-else you want to add?" Sally asked nervously.

"Not really..." Kor looked at each of them. "...Sorry for going into that much detail, but they pissed me off enough to the point it came to that...anyways, I saw so many people were scared and horrified I decided to do something about the shield. I managed to reprogram it so instead of harming cyborgs it would now block any projectiles from harming the city. I put the projector I took in the Hornet while giving it some upgrades. Then shortly after leaving the city, I was intercepted by Sonic and Tails. Apparently someone called for help while I was in the middle of my...episode..."

"And given what we heard, we felt it was best to take you out as quick as possible." Sonic stated.

"I didn't _want_ to have a confrontation with y'all as I was stressed out enough, that's why I wanted to explain what happened but you never let me speak!" Kor retorted. "But, you know now..." He stared at the table. "I had Terry deform into a cube as a sign of peace, but you two took advantage of it, beat me up, and hauled me to Mobotropolis. Then shortly after, Naugus took over, and you know the rest..." The merc finished.

The heroes were given a bit of time to think over everything Kor told them before Sally made a statement. "...While I now see your view of what happened, though now I wish I didn't, I can see this was a form of self defense...however, I still question your tactics and use of force Kor...even in murdering Egg Army personnel, has there been _any_ situation you've been in that didn't resort to...killing?...or were you just doing it because you were paid to do so?..."

Kor thought for a few moments about this. In all honesty, given his past, killing was almost second nature to him. However, as he explained in his flashback, he still wished he didn't have to kill those other soldiers. "There have been jobs where I just worked to ensure the security of some places or people. Just my presence alone was a good deterrence...and if I picked up a job that required someone to be put 6 feet under, I made sure the target was someone who this world would be better off without. Those soldiers that got killed on the Highway of Death were a bunch of thugs working under Eggman of course, and the Sand Blasters...rough past, but they let that power to go their head and abused many innocent people..."

"I see...can you step outside while we think this over?" Sally asked.

The fox nodded and went out the room, shutting the door behind him. "Ok...Nicole, can you check on the history of the Sand Blasters to see if Kor's story checks out? Everyone else...what do you think we should do with him? I'm still shell-shocked about what he said he did to them..." Sally said.

"I would say keep in him jail, but now...I'm not sure..." Sonic stated, feeling uneasy. Perhaps he and Tails jumped the gun a bit too quickly, but it wouldn't be that surprising given their reputation for being fast.

"He was telling the truth...the Sand Blasters did have a rough past due to Eggman, but they rose up and recaptured their city. However, they never trusted anyone who beared cybernetics and as a result abused many innocent people." Nicole informed them.

"I wonder why word of there misdeeds never got to us..." Antoine said, rubbing his chin.

"Probably threatened people to not spill the beans." Bunnie pointed out.

"Well in that case...I'm considering letting him stay. Despite all that he's done, he has been a good ally to us in our...original timeline, so it's possible he could still be of some help. Given the circumstances, we could use all the help we could get, and I need to ask him a few questions." Rotor explained.

"Hmm...anyone in favor of letting Kor become a freedom fighter raise your hand." Sally ordered. One by one, everyone in the room voted yes after some initial hesitation. "Ok then it's settled! Let's just hope Kor isn't too upset to say no."

 **-In the hallway-**

Kor leaned against the wall in thought, comparing his current past with the one he originally had. He remembered the times he considered himself to be too weak, or had issues adjusting to this world. Yet in the original timeline, he had friends he could count on to help him. He sure remembered the times Nicole was there for him. However, this time around he only had himself to depend on. The fox knew the answer to what he experienced: loneliness. He had been by himself for two years, with the only things keeping him going were his focus on his machines and the contracts he picked up. Sure, he heard all about the freedom fighters and their heroics through both media and the EggNet, but he never met them in person until just recently. However, the whole time he felt as if he should've been with them, yet he never gave much thought on it until now.

The mercenary was jolted from his thoughts when someone poked his leg. Looking down, he saw a young rabbit with her chao friend, which Kor was all too familiar with. "Hello Cream." He smiled.

"Hello Mr. Royce. How are you today?"

"Eh...ok I guess. Just having mild headaches."

"Would you like some tea? I came by earlier but saw everyone was busy talking about something. It looked important so I didn't want to be rude..." The rabbit told him.

"Sure. I could use a drink right now..." Kor said as Cream poured him a cup. She gave it to him before he took a sip. In all honesty, it was pretty good. He couldn't remember the last time he had a good drink of anything, aside from the few times he went to a fancy eatery. The door opened and both looked to see Sally.

"Hi Ms. Sally! Would everyone like some tea?" The young rabbit asked.

"Sure Cream. Kor, we have something important to ask you." The chipmunk said.

"Ok." Both walked in. Cream started giving people their drinks while Cheese handed anyone biscuits if they wanted one.

"Alright Kor, after much thinking, we've decided to give you a chance to become something you once were in the past. Would you be willing to once again join the Freedom Fighters?" Sally asked simply.

Kor nodded. "I am. I've been by myself for the last year since I got here, and at this point I'd rather be here than anywhere else." The fox smiled.

"Then welcome to the team Kor. Oh, and don't worry about being put in jail again. I'll see if daddy can pardon you." Sally smiled and the two shook hands.

"Everyone, we're coming on the Egg Train's location. It's about 5 miles from our current position." Nicole informed them.

"Ready for your first job as a freedom fighter?" The chipmunk asked.

"No better way to start." Kor chuckled.

 **A/N: That's a wrap folks. You've been exposed to a majority of Kor's past, though some aspects of it remain unanswered. But, that is for another time. Next chapter, the heroes will embark on a rescue mission to retrieve Chuck and Professor Pickle, as well as finding more anomalies that have occurred due to the world breaking apart, especially at night.**

 **Fun Facts: The Highway of Death Kor mentioned is a reference to an actual military incident that occurred during the Gulf War. Iraqi forces were retreating from Kuwait City from allied Arab forces after they pillaged the area and were heading back towards the border. Unfortunately for them, the allies caught them out in the open, bombed both ends of the convoy, and airstrikes and allied armor pummeled the trapped enemy force.**

 **Kor's auto-shotgun is actually an AA-12 that can fire a multitude of ammunition. He picked it up back in his world when he visited Heavy in Russia, and Kor's past also ties in with a series of annually released TF2 comics.**


	3. Everybody Likes Trains

**A/N: Hello fellow readers. After a bit of hiatus due to life issues and no inspiration to write, I bring you chapter 3! Last we checked, Kor gave the freedom fighters his past, where we learned quite a bit from it, though some parts have yet to be told. In the end, the heroes agreed to allow the mercenary to join their ranks once more, as well as call in a favor to pardon him for the charges placed on the fox. Now that they're within striking distance of an Egg Train carrying vital information and people, let's see how this turns out.**

 **Disclaimer: All characters belong to Sega and Archie except my OC** **.**

 **-Sky Patrol: Meeting Room-**

"Alright team. As we know, Eggman sent a badnik horde to Spagonia University. From what Nicole gathered, they raided the offices for documents, scientific samples...and even researchers. As a result, they took Professor Pickle and Chuck with them. But, thanks to some access codes I 'borrowed' from the Death Egg, they're being transported for pick-up at Bullet Station in Rail Canyon. While our little 'incident' put us behind by 10 minutes, we still have plenty of time to spring them loose before we enter Eggman territory." Sally explained.

"Sorry 'bout that...I still wonder how the doctor built a base there...the chasms are at least a mile deep or more in some areas..." Kor said thoughtfully.

"We'll never know, but anyway, we'll be splitting into two teams. Team Freedom will consist of Sonic, Tails, Amy, Antoine, and Kor. I'll lead Team Fighters which will be myself, Bunnie, Rotor, and Nicole. Team Freedom, your job is to cover the rescue, so Tails and Antoine will take Sonic and Amy down on the Tornado and Twister, where you two will whisk the professors to safety. Team Fighters, we'll try to take control of the train and find out where the professors are hidden." The princess finished.

"Um, we'll be well above ze trees oui?" Antoine asked a little nervously.

"Sorry Antoine, but you need to be within immediate striking distance. You and Tails are Ace pilots, so I know you can handle it." Sally assured him.

"So what am I supposed to do?" Kor asked, folding his arms.

"Given your background Kor, your job is to take out any defenses the train might have, either it be ground or aerial. You're also on standby for backup if we need it."

The fox shrugged. "Sounds fun."

"Can I be of assistance?" Cream asked.

"Sorry Cream. I know you're eager to get out there, but this one will be too dangerous for you. However, you can help Big keep the medical supplies ready in case we need them." Sally smiled.

"Oh...ok!" The young rabbit replied. While Cream certainly has the spirit, she's still too young to be handling large scale operations.

"Well team, we know our positions! Let's do it, to it!" Sonic boasted, prompting everyone else to agree.

Once in the hangar, Tails and Antoine prepped the planes while Sonic and Amy did some stretching and practice swings respectively. Sally and Rotor grabbed two extreme gear hoverboards while Nicole was strapped to Sally's side. Bunnie made sure her jet boots worked correctly while Kor prepped Hornet. The mercenary was glad the bot hadn't wasted too much ammunition during the skirmish earlier. While he rummaged through his extra large bag for a couple weapons he might need, Rotor walked up to him.

"Hey Kor, got a question since this has been bugging me for a while."

"Shoot." The fox replied without turning.

"How did the Hornet manage to get within 10 miles of the Sky Patrol without being detected? My radar should be able to track anything within 300 miles." The mechanic asked.

"Well, I built Hornet with radar-absorbing materials after thoroughly researching that type of metal, then my last set of upgrades gave it radar-absorbing paint, hence why its colored black. Added to the fact it has odd angles that also deflect radar _away_ from a detecting station, its cross-section is so small it probably looks like a small bird on radar. However, I never fully tested it, but in some cases-"

"You guys done with your geek talk? We're ready." Sonic interrupted.

Kor sighed. "I'll finish later."

Shortly after, the Freedom Fighters launched from the Sky Patrol. They were roughly 5000ft above the Soleanna Forest, and from there vantage point they easily spotted an Egg Train moving along its tracks. However, they also saw it was be escorted by a few flying badniks about 700ft above, as well as some noticeable anti-air defenses.

"Guess they took some extra precautions this time around." Rotor stated.

"That, or Eggman might've thought we'd jump his train. Either way, looks like you're going to be first one up Kor. Take out those defenses so we can move closer." Sally ordered.

"Got it 'boss'." Kor smirked before telling Hornet to 'press'.

The gunship locked up the flying badniks, which were buzz bombers, before ripple-firing missiles from its mouth. The badniks had no time to react before being blown to pieces. At this point the trains anti-air defenses kicked in and shot at the gunship in retaliation. However, due to its special coating the guns couldn't track it effectively. The gunship shot rockets as well as using its gun pod to rip apart the defenses. Kor shot off a few with his own launcher.

"Anti-air is down." Kor said via radio.

Sally nodded. "Alright, let's move in!"

The princess, Bunnie, and Rotor moved in and took position on the lead car while the others took an overwatch position just above the locomotive.

"Ah, the win in my spines...it _almost_ feels like we're going fast." Sonic smirked.

"Sorry Sonic, but you'll have to stick with slow-going for a minute." Tails chuckled.

Team Fighters had found a hatch that had been bolted shut, so at the moment Rotor was trying to cut it open with a soldering tool. Unfortunately, it was proving to be rather difficult.

The walrus lifted his goggles as he stopped. "No good. This thing doesn't have enough juice to cut through the armor..."

"Then stand back sugah. Ah'll _make_ an openin'." Bunnie said, charging up her hand. The southern belle then shot a morderately powerful blast at the hatch. She managed to punch through the hatch armor, but unfortunately the hole wasn't big enough for any of the three to fit through it. "Well, that's embarrassin'..." The rabbit said in disbelief.

"Don't worry Bunnie. We can still make this work." Sally smiled as she took out Nicole. The chipmunk attached a power ring to the handheld before dropping her down the hole. Nicole made a frown face emoticon on her screen as she as dropped.

The A.I. grunted in pain slightly when she hit the floor. With the ring's power, she manifested her physical form. "Careful next time Sally. My components are one-of-a-kind..."

"Sorry, but no one else could fit through. Can you take control of the trains systems?" Sally asked.

"I'll see if I can." The lynx walked up to the controls. Using an extension plug, she jacked her PDA into the train's systems. "Good, it's running on the standard Egg-OS. I can get in but it'll take a few minutes."

"Hate to rush, but please hurry. We don't know what else this thing has for defenses." The chipmunk stated.

It was at the moment Nicole heard heavy, metallic footsteps behind her. Turning around, she felt her circuits run cold. In front of her stood one of Eggmans E-100 Series robots. This one was E-106, codenamed 'Eta'. Designed for close combat, it main weapons are its two piston-powered arms that are tipped with dual spikes, allowing to punch through thick armor as if it was paper.

"Um, I-I don't supposed you're one of those rogue badniks on our side?..." She smiled nervously as she unhooked herself from the computer.

Eta responded by shooting its left arm at the A.I. Nicole managed to jump out of the way at the last second, but Eta's attack destroyed the train's computer. This caused the locomotive to begin accelerating rapidly, nearly throwing Team Fighters overboard. This didn't go unnoticed by Team Freedom either.

"The train's accelerating! Fly faster!" Amy told Antoine.

"It iz all I can be doing to keep zis thing leveled!" The coyote responded. Even the Tornado and Hornet were starting to have issues keeping pace.

"Amy! Kor! Something's happened! Forget the original plan! We're doing this car-by-car now!" Sonic ordered.

The other two nodded before all 3 dismounted their vehicles. "You guys start from this end, I'll run up ahead!" The blue blur stated before running off.

Amy proceeded with attempting to smash open the hatch of the end car whilst Kor moved to the car in front of her. In an instant, he pulled out what Team Fortress 2 fans would recognize as a stickybomb launcher. This one was known as the Scottish Resistance, a little gift from the Demoman Kor received some time ago. Hopefully he didn't blow up the whole car trying to bust it open.

Sally heard sound of crunching metal inside the car. "Nicole! What's going on down there?!"

The lynx was busy trying to avoid getting crushed. "E-100 unit!" She ducked as Eta struck the wall where her head was, temporarily getting its hand stuck. "I'm under attack! Get me out of here!"

Sally reached her hand through the hole. "Throw me your PDA!"

Nicole quickly tossed herself to the princess before her physical form was crushed by the E-100 unit, causing it to dissipate.

"You ok?" Sally asked, genuinely worried.

"I'm fine, but I'm afraid the train's controls were destroyed. However, I have confirmed the professors are indeed aboard, and I have also found that while the doors between the cars are sealed, the ceiling hatches are less armored." Nicole explained.

"So there's no way to stop the train _or_ quickly search the cars..." Sally paraphrased.

"No, and I'm pretty sure the E-100 unit does not care about collateral damage..." Right as Nicole finished, Eta punched a hole in the cars roof, surprising the rest.

The princess sighed. "So much for finesse...looks like we're doing this car-by-car now Fighters! We gotta move quick before the badnik gets us, or this train jumps the rails!"

Team Fighters then heard an explosion near the rear of the train, followed by what sounded like Amy yelling 'ARE YOU CRAZY?!' "Looks like Team Freedom already started." Sally said thoughtfully. The Fighters started opening a few cars individually: Sally using her laser blades to saw one open, Rotor attempting to use his soldering tool again, and Bunnie trying to pry one open with her cybernetic hand.

Back in the aft section of the train. "Are you trying to blow the train up?!" Amy yelled at Kor, who was a little singed from blowing open the hatch.

"Well how would you suggest I open the car?! It's not like I have super strength like you!" The fox retorted. He looked inside and only saw what he _hoped_ were unarmed munitions. The mercenary chuckled nervously at the thought of blowing up the entire car.

Amy muttered something along the line of psychopath as she returned to her work. Giving one final smash on the hatch, she found it was full of bombs and missiles. Three missiles sitting next to the wall were dented from when the hatch impacted it. Kor walked over and looked in.

"Ok, so we both agree no one needs to know we almost blew up the train?" The fox smirked.

"Y-Yeah, let's do that." The pink hedgehog agreed.

Amy went on to help Bunnie, who was about to blast open another hatch. Luckily, Amy managed to convince her otherwise, telling her about what was in the last two cars. Instead, the cyborg help the hatch open just enough for Amy to bat it off with her hammer. Unfortunately, the car was only filled with supplies and fuel. Sally and Rotor weren't having much luck either, only managing to open another car that was actually a freezer unit containing food supplies. With Sonic, he bashed his way into one car with ease, only to instantly regret it. The car he just opened contained the badnik horde that was sent to invade the university.

"Uh-oh, wrong car! Sorry guys, you can go back to sleep, or stand-by...or whatever you badniks do. I know the way out so I'll just-" The hedgehog said nervously before the robots started attacking him. Sonic easily dodged before making his escape. Unfortunately, the side-windows of the car opened, releasing the robots. The flying types saw the Tornado, Twister, and Hornet not far above the train and immediately headed for them.

"Oh crud! Ascend! Evasive maneuvers!" Tails ordered.

All three aircraft began to evade, though the planes fared less due to not having any means to fight back due to the robots being too close to use their weapons. Hornet was getting irritated by the small robots buzzing around it, even a few biting at its wings. In retaliation, it activated a new defense mechanism: its shield. The shield generator Kor took from Sand Blast City was installed on Hornet for such occasions when dealing with Eggman's badnik hordes. It's also said to stop incoming projectiles, but that hasn't been tested. An electrical shield surrounded the gunship, pushing away the small robots and shorting out those that came within contact of it.

Sally and Rotor watch from their position as the Tornado and Twister continue to try to shake off their little 'friends'. Sally sighed in annoyance. "Ah geez, really?...Bunnie! Help the Tornado and Twister with air support! Kor, get Hornet to help as well!"

Both complied and followed their orders to the letter. However, the princess and walrus noticed the scorpion-like badniks rolling out of the train and heading directly towards them. The duo are able to hold them off, but they can't let these pests distract them from the main objective.

"Amy! Move up and help us with the badniks! Kor! Keep searching the cars!" Sally yelled to them.

"What?!" Amy yelled back.

"She said go help 'em smash them bots." Kor told her, planting another stickybomb on a hatch.

"Remind me again why we don't have T-pup and Omochao managing comms?" Sally asked the mechanic, driving her sword into the head of a badnik before ducking as a mace soared past her head.

"Because they weren't fast enough to keep up with the train?" Rotor replied, grabbing one bot by the tail and tossing it into another.

"Right...remind me to have you and Tails build us some head sets before the next mission."

"Can we worry about _this_ one first?"

When it looks like the two we going to be overwhelmed, Amy suddenly hurls herself into the fray, hammering the remaining badniks in a single rampage. "You guys ok?" Amy asked, a little short of breath.

"We are now. Thanks Amy." Rotor replied with a smile.

With Sonic, he was busy destroying the badniks pestering him with his signature homing attack. However, when he stopped to gloat, the train suddenly took a hard turn to the left, throwing both him and whatever badniks that were with him overboard. The same happened to Sally, Rotor, and Amy. Kor almost fell off the train but he managed to grab onto one of the 'horns' at the last second. Sally and Rotor managed to hop on their extreme gear before they hit the ground, but Amy was no where to be seen. Luckily, Sonic caught her and, using Rotor and Sally's boards as steps, they were back on the locomotive.

"Looks like that last turn did us a favor and got rid of the badniks." Sally noted after looking around.

"And nearly killing us..." Kor said as he jumped onto their car.

"As such, we're playing it safe. I'll stay on my board to act as a safety net." The princess stated.

The mercenary looked around and saw most of the cars had their hatches missing. "These are the last two cars we haven't checked yet. They gotta be in one of these."

"I'll use my Omni-tool to weaken the hatch, then Amy can bust it open." Rotor said, reaching for his tool.

Before Rotor could start soldering again, all four of them heard what sounded like metal smashing against metal. They looked toward the front of the train, where they heard the noise.

"What was that?" Amy asked.

"Not sure. Nicole said all the passages between the cars were sealed off...is the train starting to tear itself apart?" Sally questioned.

Kor rubbed his chin in thought before he remembered something he heard earlier. "Wait, didn't y'all say there was an E-100 unit with a lack of damage control on board...?"

Everyone else looked at each other with worry. It was very well possible Eta might be punching its way towards them. The looks on their faces was all the answer Kor needed.

"Stand back Rotor. I'm blowin' this hatch open!" Kor said, planting three stickybombs. The others stood back a safe distance before Kor blew the hatch into the car.

"The professors better be in this car..." Rotor said hopefully.

With Sonic, he spun his way into the other car. "Come on, please let them be in here..." He said in a worried tone.

Once he got up, Sonic was pleased by what he found. Inside a glass prison pod were Professor Pickle and Uncle Chuck. Around them were several crates containing research materials. "Yes! Finally!"

"Sonny-boy! I knew you'd come for us!" Chuck said with glee.

Pickle looked at Sonic with a curious eye. "Hmm...are you the porter? I'll have you know I'm quite displeased with the service on this train! I will have a cucumber sandwich post-haste, if you please!"

This just caused Chuck to facepalm. Sonic gave a questioning look at his uncle. "Trust me, I tried..."

"Well don't worry brainiacs, I'll figure out a way to spring ya." The blue blur told them.

"Please do hurry Sonic." Chuck replied.

"Yeah, yeah I know. This train is out of control."

"Well, yes, but that's not what I meant. It's about the planet! Dillon's research, the samples I took in the Wood Zone, they all tie into something much bigger..." The older hedgehog explained.

Sonic sighed. "Seriously? The planet breaking apart isn't hard enough?"

Before Chuck could respond, everyone heard what sounded like something breaking in the next car. A second later, Eta punched its way into the car they were in, so it _was_ tunneling its way toward the heroes.

"Gonna have to put that lunch order on hold, professor." Sonic grinned as he faced the E-100 mech.

 **-Meanwhile: In the other car-**

"He devoted an _entire_ car to a FOOSBALL TABLE?!" Kor asked in irritation.

"Talk about a huge waste of space..." Sally muttered.

"Ew...the foosball is shaped like Sonic's head..." Rotor stated after looking it over.

Amy wasn't paying attention to the conversation. While she too was upset at finding nothing but a dumb table game, she heard a ruckus in the car next to them. "Um, guys? I think I hear fighting in the next car."

Suddenly, the train took another hard turn, throwing all of them to the wall. Rotor shook his head. "Doesn't matter if this train is eggman-tech. Another turn like that and we're all toast..."

Sally nodded. "Yeah, let's hurry."

"What do you think it was ya heard Amy?" Kor asked, readjusting his helmet.

"I know I clearly heard Sonic, who is hopefully clearing out whatever robots might be on this train." The pink hedgehog replied.

"Speaking of which..." Sally opened up Nicole. "Sally to air support. Does anyone copy?"

 **-Roughly 1/2 mile from the train-**

The Tornado, Twister, and Hornet had been dealing with the flying badniks for 5 minutes, and they were turning the tide. Bunnie showed up two minutes ago and started blasting the tiny bots, freeing the captured mobini inside. At this time, all 4 developed a simple yet clever strategy: the biplanes would fly around to lure the badniks in their directions while Bunnie and Hornet swung in from behind to pick them off. Bunnie used her arm cannon while Hornet used its massive chain gun.

Bunnie blasted another badnik away from the Tornado while Hornet was busy helping Antoine. The southern belle sat on the wing as she opened up her communication device. "Sho' nuff sugar..." She was short of breath from the constant flying and shooting. "We're still dealin' with this swarm of badniks, an' Ah'm almost tuckered out..." The rabbit looked up for a brief second before spotting something else approaching on the horizon. "Ah no..."

"What is it?" Sally asked.

"Looks like some big flyin' Egg robos came to help."

"Oh great...don't overexert yourself Bunnie. Tornado and Twister, take care of those badniks on the double! I think we've found the professors, so we'll need a pickup soon. Kor, think Hornet can handle the reinforcements?" Sally informed them.

"Way ahead of ya princess. Hornet, break off whatever you're doing and destroy those incoming bandits." They heard Kor say over the comms.

Hornet, who was behind the Twister shooting off badniks, peeled away to engage. Antoine was flying right towards the Tornado.

"When I pull to ze left, shoot zem!" The coyote begged.

"Don't worry Antoine, I got ya covered!" Tails replied.

Once the Twister broke left, the badniks attempted to follow but were blown to pieces by the Tornado's machine guns. Hornet saw 10 E-1008 Falcos approaching, two squadrons with 5 in each. If the robot could smile, it would have been an evil grin. Since Kor designed it to take on the E-100 series robots, this should be a cake walk.

 **-Back on the train-**

Sonic was still battling Eta, who kept making more and more holes into the train car as it tried to hit the hedgehog. The blue blur hoped he could put the brakes on this super-badnik before it trashed the entire car, but the enclosed space wouldn't allow him to build up any momentum. The train took another sharp turn to the left, nearly throwing Sonic to the floor, though the professors ended up getting tossed in their prison. Chuck was knocked out due to hitting his head, which momentarily distracted Sonic long enough for Eta to pin him to the wall.

"That's it! You wanna play rough, I'M GONNA-" Sonic snarled, but he was interrupted as Amy came in through the open hatch and beat Eta back with her hammer.

"Nice work Sonic. You and Amy keep that thing busy while we retrieve the professors!" Sally ordered as she and Rotor set to work.

Sonic growled before setting his emotions right. He didn't know why he suddenly felt angrier than he typically would, but at least now it subsided. "Ngh...right."

Amy and Eta exchanged blows: hammer and metal spikes colliding with each other. After another exchange, both Amy's hammer and Eta's arm met head-on, sending both backwards. Eta's eyes displayed a look of sadness as it saw the spikes on its right arm had been blunted. Before it could react, Sonic curled into a ball whilst Amy batted him into the robot, throwing it to the wall.

"Sweet! We managed to make it mad!" Sonic chuckled.

Amy just sighed. "Even Zero wasn't this annoying..."

Eta tried to attack the duo once more after pushing itself off the ground, but Amy swatted it with her hammer, breaking off one of its legs.

Sally poked her head in through the ceiling hatch. She and Rotor already evacuated Chuck and Pickle. "Come on guys! Biplanes inbound! We're getting out of here!"

"Welp, you hear the lady." Sonic said, scooping Amy into his arms, causing her to blush. He hopped back onto the car's roof, then looked around. "Wait, wasn't Kor with us?"

"Right here pardner." Kor said, hopping up to their car.

"Where were you?" Amy asked.

The fox grinned. "Oh, just taking care of some last minute business." He pulled the handle on the stickybomb launcher to reload it, hinting he planted some bombs back aft. "So how are we suppose to get off this crazy thing? Sally and Rot are handlin' the scientists."

Sonic looked ahead of the train and saw they were about to cross a bridge. The Tornado was inbound. "Yeah, that'll do nicely." He smirked.

"Wait, _what_ will do nicely?" Amy questioned before she saw what he was looking at. "Oh no, no no no no!"

"Oh _yes!_ " Sonic grinned before all three of them jumped onto the plane as it crossed under the bridge. Eta managed to punch its way through the roof and took one last swing at them, but fortunately it missed.

"That...was nerve-wracking..." Amy said in an uneasy tone.

"Yet we're standing on the wings of a plane." Sonic teased.

"Well, yes but...I...shut up..." Amy pouted, causing Kor to laugh.

"Oh, and one last thing." Kor said before pressing the detonator on his launcher. Everyone saw as the three rear cars went up in a giant fireball, which also took out the bridge. Unfortunately, the train stubbornly chugged on. The mercenary sighed. "Well, at least the fat one will be missing some ordinance and logistics."

Sally rode up next to the Twister on her extreme gear with Pickle taking backseat. "Bunnie, what's the badnik situation?"

The cyborg blasted one more. "That's the last of 'em. We're in the clear."

As the heroes were forming up, Amy noticed something moving in behind them. "Hey guys, what's that?"

They looked and saw a Falco turning towards them. Bunnie was about to fly out to destroy it when everyone saw Hornet sweep in behind it. It had destroyed the other robot birds at the cost of using up most of its ammo. Now, it only had about 3 seconds worth of bullets for its chain gun. Seeing that it was trying to attack the others, the gunship increased its speed to the point it was on the verge of overtaking the eggbot. Sensing this, Hornet tightened its turn just enough to expend the last of its ammunition on the Falco just before it flew right past it. The bullets hit the right wing root and center body. A second later, the entire wing broke off in flames, causing the robot to spiral down into the forest below.

"All reinforcements confirmed dead Sal. Also Eggman's gonna be missing some supplies." Kor smirked at Hornet.

"And the super-badnik is stuck on a train going no-where fast!" Sonic added, now lying on the wing of the Tornado.

"After all that hassle, we finally got the professors. Good work everyone, now let's get back to the Sky Patrol." Sally ordered with a smile.

Once everyone was on board, Sonic and Rotor took Chuck and Pickle to the infirmary to check on their condition. Aside from Chuck needing an ice pack for his head, they were ok. Once they were done, Sonic and Sally met up with them in the meeting room to discuss why Eggman wanted them so badly. However, they left a few important things on the train...

"What do you mean 'we lost your stuff'?!" Sonic asked with an irritated tone.

"Precisely what I said. The research material I acquired is still on that train, along with the samples Charles collected." Pickle said, unfazed.

The blue blur sighed. "And you didn't think bring it up while we were busy _saving your lives_?"

"Well, you were quite involved in your fisticuffs, so I thought it would've been rude to interrupt. During that time it...seemed to have slipped my mind."

"My excuse was that I was knocked out..." Chuck said, temporarily removing the ice pack from his head.

"Well, in either case, what were you researching that Dr. Eggman wanted from you?" Sally asked.

"Ah. Well...I had nearly completed decoding the Gaia Manuscripts. To put it simply, they tell of an old myth revolving around the death and rebirth of the planet. Every 10,000 years, it was said to shatter apart, much like our current predicament. Now, from what I've deduced, there are 7 Gaia Temples located throughout the world. It's said they have some connection to the chaos emeralds, somehow tying into their power. After doing my research, it seems that when the emeralds are placed into these temples, they should be able to restore the world and begin the process of rebirth." Pickle explained.

Sally rubbed her chin in thought. "Hmm...Eggman was eager for information, so that may explain a lot, and if this is a reoccurring phenomenon, it would explain why our atmosphere is still working, but it doesn't explain why the oceans haven't dried up...do you know the location of these temples professor?"

"Unfortunately no...I hadn't finished decoding the manuscripts, nor verified the two locations I found, and I certainly can't hazard a guess as to why Eggman would want my research..."

Chuck's face hardened. "Oh, I can tell you that with certainty. He wants to control _how_ the world is put back together, or even hold the _whole_ planet hostage. It's how he works: corrupting anything he touches and twisting it to suit his own needs!"

"Like with your roboticizer?" Pickle asked.

Chuck sighed. Never a day goes by that he wasn't reminded of how Eggman came to power in the first place. "Yes Dillon, like with the roboticizer..."

"Seems very likely he would use this opportunity to take complete control of the world...however, he would _only_ know of the location of those two, while _we_ already know what to look for." Sally said in thought.

"Sweet! We got the Sky Patrol, we got the Freedom Fighters back together, and we've got _me_! How hard could it be?" Sonic smirked.

"Hate you undermine your enthusiasm sonny, but there's more to it than that..." Chuck said in a serious tone.

 **A/N: And that's all for now. Again, I apologize for the late entry, with college and all. Next chapter, we'll see more of how the heroes step up their game to fix the world, as well as see how Eggman is doing. Haven't written his side yet.**

 **Extra: Kor's backpack functions much like the in-game backpack all users have on TF2, so it effectively contains all the weapons he has at his disposal, as well as his hats.**


	4. Hunters by Day, Prey by Night

**A/N: Welcome to chapter 4. Last time, the heroes rescued Professor Pickle and Chuck from the Egg Train, despite leaving some crucial information behind. Now, they'll discover there's a lot more dangers out there aside from the world breaking up.**

 **Disclaimer: All characters belong to Sega and Archie except my OC.**

 **-Sky Patrol hangar-**

"So what were you saying earlier Kor?" Rotor asked.

"I said I hadn't been able to fully test its stealth capabilities. Usually when Hornet goes with me on a mission it stays low to avoid detection, but with the stuff I applied, it should no longer have to do that. Didn't mean to insult ya work Rot." Kor smirked.

"Hah hah." Rotor gave a dry laugh. "You haven't seen what this baby can _really_ do. In fact, once we're finished here I'm gonna give everyone a grand tour."

"Sounds promising." Tails chimed in.

The rest of the Freedom Fighters minus Bunnie and Antoine were busy tending to their vehicles while Sally and Sonic were busy chatting with the professors. The damage to the biplanes was superficial, so all they had to do was re-add some paint and restock ammunition. After opening up a side-bay in Hornet, Kor wasn't surprised the robot used up all of its ammo. It would've been funny if the robot had to start ramming its enemies just to take them out. The engineer started digging through his bag for something.

"I know that darn thing's in here somewhere..." He muttered.

"Whatcha lookin' for?" Rotor asked.

"I know I got a box that contains mah dispenser...ah here it is." Kor said as he pulled out a gray, metallic box. Tapping it with his wrench, the box built up and expanded to the point it looked like a very large chest. The dispenser was cut into 4 segments, each containing a different type of ammunition. Kor opened the left-most door and pulled out a missile. "Some time before building Hornet, I built this here dispenser, which I also use to restock Terry. Two slots contains 30mm ammunition (separated as Terry and Hornet use different rounds), one has rockets, and the last one has these missiles."

Rotor grabbed the homing rocket at Kor's permission and inspected it. It looked a little different than what he's usually seen. "Hmm, it looks like it contains a multi-purpose warhead with advanced radar. How'd you make something like this?"

"Well, you can get a lot by stealin' info off the Eggnet." The merc chuckled. "Stumbled upon some of Eggman's missile specs on accident, so I decided to 'borrow' their design. I made it into an all-purpose missile, capable of targeting both air and ground targets. Of course, I had to update both mah machine's radars so they could use 'em, and it also allows them to carry more on hand than they used to. Hell, I can officially say they tend to carry more missiles than rockets, well at least Hornet does."

"You sure knew your way into Eggman's network. Did he ever figure out you kept stealing from him?" The walrus questioned.

"Well..." Kor started loading missiles into his gunship. "Sometimes he did, but I think he was so distract with you guys he never made something out of it as far as I'm concerned."

"What's the range on them?" Tails asked.

"Well, effective range is 30 miles as they aren't dedicated to a particular role, and that's all I could get from the rocket motor at the time I built them."

"Hmm, maybe we could help enhance it." Rotor smirked.

"Really?" Kor asked.

"Sure. I'm always up for a little experimentation when it comes to weaponry."

"Well, I'll take ya up on that. But first...you got an armory or somethin' on this ship?" Kor asked as he hooked up two tubes to Hornet's gun pod and flipped a switch. It started emptying out shell casings into a bin on the side of the dispenser while loading in new ammunition to the gun.

 **-Bullet Station-**

The mad dictator himself, Eggman, was waiting patiently at the station for his train to arrive. Orbot and Cubot were next to him, confirming they survived the effects of the Super Genesis Wave. The doctor already heard unconfirmed reports that the train was attacked by the Freedom Fighters, so he wanted to see it for himself. Once it arrived, Eggman sighed in disbelief. The train looked like someone got into a car accident and was driving with a caved-in engine deck. the armor was scratched, tree branches that were stuck finally fell off, and Eta was still stuck in the roof. Even worse, Eggman noted a few cars were _missing_ , and the last car that wasn't destroyed still had flames licking the surface. The tyrant began to boil with rage.

Orbot looked at a pocket watch before the doctor could begin a rant. "On a positive note, it arrived on time. We're lucky the tracks stayed intact, considering the state of the planet..."

"JUST GET AN INVENTORY OF WHAT WAS LOST!" Eggman bellowed.

After a few minutes of checking each car, the two robots found Eggman in the car that contained the professor's research material. Some of Chuck's collected samples had fallen on the floor, so Cubot took the time to clean it up. However, upon soaking up the strange liquid, the mop suddenly acquired a mind of its own and started attacking the cubed robot.

Orbot was looking through a list of the train's logistics. "The good news is that 30% of your munitions and fuel supplies arrived intact..."

"And the _bad_ news?" Eggman questioned, looking through a crate containing scrolls.

"The rest of the munitions were destroyed somehow, total loss of your badnik units, all of your food provisions are spoiled, both captives lost, and the custom foosball table you ordered is in pieces..." Orbot paused, waiting for Eggman to scream at him. However, he grew confused when he saw a smile on the doctor's face. "Annnd, you aren't throwing a tantrum?"

"Food and munitions can be replaced, and Sonic can have those idiots. I got what _really_ matters." He grinned evilly, opening up a scroll. "Have the robots unload these materials quickly! I have a lot of researching to do."

Like Sonic, Eggman had been putting the pieces together once he arrived on Mobius after the Super Genesis Wave. In doing so, he found the Dark Egg Legion was replaced by the 'Egg Army', which included some changes in leadership which he didn't care about too much. After crashing somewhere in Efrika, the doctor and his two lackeys spent the day traveling between Egg Army bases to reach the Death Egg, as well ass giving GUN some trouble along the way. Once he took a look at the Gaia manuscripts, Eggman quickly deduced that several temples were the key to fixing the world. The fat tryant had an evil grin on his face as he realized he could _control_ how the world was put back together. It also helped that on a few continents the Egg Army set up shop in some old temples.

After about an hour of further studying the manuscripts, Eggman ordered a few Egg bosses to defend their bases at all costs. At this time, he shifted his focus to find out what the heroes had up their sleeves. They had to have some sort of new transportation if they were able to assault the train like they did. It was then from his satellite network, that Eggman discovered the Sky Patrol. He was a bit impressed at the flying fortress, and upon first glace, he knew it could be a threat to his Death Egg. The doctor sat in thought, pondering his next move.

"Whatcha lookin' at boss?" Cubot suddenly asked, snapping the tyrant out of his thought process.

Orbot floated in, turning on the lights in the room. "What's wrong boss? Did you forget to turn the light on, or did you mean to be sitting in the dark, muttering to yourself like a crazy person?"

"For you information you _glitching goons_ , you caught me in the middle of an exhaustive investigation into our enemy's new flying fortress!" The doctor retorted. "I didn't think there was another creature alive who was smart enough to create a weapon capable of such mass destruction, I'm _almost_ impressed...let's see what those vermin have in that floating box _."_

 **-Sky Patrol-**

With Pickle and Chuck heading back to Spagonia, Rotor was giving everyone else a grand tour of the fortress, starting with the engine room. The engine used a matrix of power rings, which were enough to keep the ship running. Kor asked what would happen if a chaos emerald was used instead, to which Rotor responded that it could theoretically power the ship for years. It seems the Sky Patrol was almost like a small town, as aside from usual things like dorms, a medical bay, and kitchen, it also contained a gym (with a pool), an entertainment room, an armory (to Kor's delight), and a science lab.

However, as the tour dragged on, the heroes were starting to become a little bummed with Rotor introducing trivial things like a toilet. Right now, they were at the ship's zen garden. "And here was have our zen garden, where we can meditate between missions." The mechanic boasted, leaning on a crop rake.

Sonic groaned inwardly. "Great. If there's anything I like more than sitting still, it's being quiet..."

"Well, I don't mind it. Half the time I come back from a job I need to de-stress." Kor chimed in. Bunnie and Antoine didn't say anything, but just gave thumbs-up. But like Sonic, the tour was starting to drain them as well.

"Look Rotor, the Sky Patrol is cool and all, but I figured it'd be more, you know..." Sonic paused, thinking of the right words to say. Before he could answer, the Sky Patrol's warning alarms blared, startling everyone.

"Geezus! Was the alarm that loud when Hornet attacked?!" Kor asked, rubbing his ears.

"No, that's the badnik warning alarm!" Rotor stated.

"Thank goodness..." Tails whispered.

"I know right? I was beginning to fall asleep." The hedgehog whispered back. The others joined Rotor in the ship's bridge. "Don't worry Rotor. We won't let anything break your new toy. Just point us toward the exit and we'll-!"

"It's cool guys, I got this." Rotor smirked, settling his goggles on his eyes. "C'mon, you didn't think I didn't _arm_ this thing did ya?!"

"This, I gotta see." Kor chuckled.

Outside, a towering badnik that looked much like Rotor was heading toward the Sky Patrol, and at that moment the heroes heard Eggman's voice via the comm system. "Freedom Fighters, prepare to meet your doom at the hands of my newest badnik horde commander, the War Walrus! Anything your purple pal can build, my metallic mechanic can destroy _twice_ as fast!"

Rotor's smirk grew. "Challenge accepted. Activating defensive measures." The walrus pressed a button on his command chair.

Within an instant, several weapons mounted in the Sky Patrol revealed themselves and began shooting. Among the usual missiles, laser blasters and volkan cannons, the ship also contained a particle beam cannon, a sonic power cannon, and amusingly, an omochao gun. All these weapons combined blew a hole right through the War Walrus' center mass, causing it to malfunction before falling towards the ground.

"Goodness gracious sugah!" Bunnie said in surprise.

"Seriously Rot. Next time, lead with the _good_ stuff." Sonic applauded.

"You mean the weapons? Nah, that stuff's boring. Anyone can build a weapon, even Eggman. But you should see the comic book and videogame library! That's worth getting excited about!" Rotor replied. The captain looked over at Kor, whose face was noticeably pale. "You ok there dude?"

"T-The ship just destroyed it l-like it was nothing. Man if Hornet got spotted..." The fox replied in disbelief, very certain of the consequences if Hornet had been detected at range earlier. However, he regained his composure after remembering Rotor's last statement. "Hey! Hornet and Terry are weapons!"

"Yes, but yours are actually _good_." The mechanic smirked.

The red fox sighed. "Ya got me there...so what were you saying about a library?"

 **-Back at the Death Egg-**

Eggman slammed his fist on the command console in frustration.

"Easy there boss." Cubot said.

"They can't all be winners sir." Orbot added.

"Bah! There's no need for consolation. I was merely testing their defenses. It's obvious the front door is not an option, so, a more subtle approach is required." Eggman smiled evilly, producing a newly repaired Tails Doll. Both lackeys cringed upon seeing it.

 **-Hours Later-**

In the area where the Sky Patrol was, it was roughly 2 a.m. About 30 miles away, Hornet was carrying its creator back to the super fortress. To put it mildly, Kor was tired. He appeared as if he had been through yet another war zone, which in reality, it might as well have been one. Just before 9 p.m., he got a call to be hired as an escort for the CEO of BreezeTV. He didn't exactly know why since the engineer knew Breezie had a good amount of security, but the amount of money she was bargaining was too much to pass up. He expected it to be a simple job, but it became far from that once the sun had set.

One minute, he was escorting Breezie's caravan, then the next thing he knew he was in a fight with some strange dark creatures he never saw before. After checking through history, Kor could tell these weren't the Black Arms as Shadow dealt with them a year prior. Whatever those things were, they were something else entirely. A few of them managed to bite him on his arm and close to his neck, so he really hoped they weren't venomous. It didn't help some giant dark troll appeared as well, but luckily Hornet and Terry's response was swift and deadly.

Pressing a button on his helmet, Kor radioed the Sky Patrol. "Sky Patrol it's Kor...is anyone still awake?"

Nicole, who was on standby, was woken up by the message. Half-awake, she responded back. "Hey Kor. How'd your job go?..."

"...Things went south very quickly...the person I was guarding is safe and all, but the whole situation got so out of control it's almost a blur to me..."

"What happened?"

"I'll tell ya when I get there. A few creatures bit me and I don't know what they could've been carryin'...might wanna wake everyone else cause I think we'll be seein' more of 'em..." The merc replied, lying back on Hornet's head.

Nicole began to feel genuinely worried. Whatever Kor ran into must've been fierce since he sounded very exhausted. She opened up the main hangar door and decided to wake up Sally.

The princess in question was having a very decent dream, probably something from her childhood. However, a frown formed on her face as it started to turn into a nightmare. The holo-lynx partially materialized in her room.

"Sally?"

The chipmunk nearly jumped out of her bed. "Aah! Wha?..." Sally rubbed her eyes. "Nicole?"

"Kor says he encountered something strange while he was away, and he thinks we might come across it at some point."

"Did he clarify what it was?" Sally asked, becoming more awake.

"He mentioned some sort of creatures, but that was it."

"Interesting...everyone else is still asleep, but I'll go speak with him." The princess said, getting out of bed. "Do you know where he is currently?"

"He just arrived a minute ago, so he's probably walking to the infirmary." The lynx stated.

Once Nicole dissipated, Sally left her room, making sure not to awaken the others. Once she arrived at the med-bay, Kor was using a mirror to look at the areas he was bitten, which were his forearms and one of his shoulders. Nicole was using another holo-matrix to partially appear.

"Are you alright Kor?" Sally asked.

The fox turned his head towards before looking back at the mirror. "Yeah. Just achin' a little but it ain't nothin'. These bites are a bit irritating though..."

"Nicole said you came across some strange creatures. What did they look like?"

"Dark colored. Not dark like the Black Arms, but they had some sort of bluish tint to 'em. They started appearing outside out of thin air...well the flying ones did. Some regular walkers crawled out of the cracks in the ground." Kor said, beginning to fish through cabinets to find some bandages. "When you and Sonic talked with the professors, did they say anythin' about those things?"

Sally thought for a moment, pressing her back to the wall. "Professor Pickle spoke of an entity known as Dark Gaia. Even Chuck said some of the samples he took from the Wood Zone were highly dangerous, saying they possibly had mutagenic properties...apparently Sonic had been exposed to some of it. He says he's fine, but I think he might be hiding something...if you say you've been bitten by those creatures, we may have to watch you as well..."

Kor sighed, finding what he was looking for and sat on a bed. "Well that's just dandy...I don't feel odd or anything at least aside from being tired."

"Well that's good. Get some rest." Sally said before retiring back to bed.

"...You've been doing this line of work for 2 years right Kor?" Nicole asked.

"Yeah, why you ask?" The fox began applying bandages to his wounds. Due to his fur color, it's actually hard to tell if Kor was bleeding. But once he began wrapping his wounds, he clearly was.

"Well...I just want to know the reason why..." The A.I. answered, sounding unsure.

"Well, the amount of money I make is pretty astounding. It also helped me build my reputation, which is why some people admire or fear me. It's mostly the latter though..." The fox stared at the ceiling.

"I see...don't you think it might be a good idea to retire? I'm not trying to change who you are, it's just...it's just one day I..." She stopped herself for a moment. "I mean we don't want to find out you had been captured or worse doing what you do...you know you can count on us to help you right?"

"I know...given the circumstances it would be a good idea to hang up the old shoes. Shoot, I got large sum over the last year so I'd be pretty decent unless the bank crashed...and I know you worry about me a lot Nikki." He turned his head towards her. "Sorry for makin' ya worry..."

"I-It's alright...it was just a thought in my head..."

"Well, I got bit on this last one, so flyin' solo ain't gonna work anymore. Besides, I remember at one point in our past lives you said I needed to adapt better." The engineer smiled.

The A.I. smiled back, that incident still logged in her memory banks. "But what do you think will happen to you? Sonic has already been showing bouts of aggression when he becomes stressed, and knowing you..."

"Well I trust you guys will do _something_ to keep me in check so I don't...well best not think about that..." Kor replied, feeling uneasy. He would never forgive himself if he ended up _killing_ one of his own teammates due to rage...

"Are you sure you're going to be ok?" Nicole asked.

"Yeah...I'll just sleep it off. Don't you worry none." With that, Nicole disappeared from the room, leaving Kor to his thoughts. He hoped nothing bad would come out of this, and he sure hoped he didn't turn into some giant monster or whatever. He stayed awake until he was too exhausted to think any further.

The next morning, the heroes awoke from their slumber. Currently, everyone was in the kitchen and dining area getting some breakfast. While drinking some coffee, Kor was flipping through channels on a TV. He removed his bandages earlier since he stopped leaking blood overnight. Most of it was news about the planet breaking up, which he paid little attention to. However, one story got him interested.

"Hey guys? You may want to look at this..." The fox stated.

"It's just more news about what we already know. What else is there?" Sonic asked.

"I think they're may be more to it Sonic..." Sally stated.

The red fox cast an annoyed look at the hedgehog. "Just watch..." He turned up the volume.

"During the night, these strange creatures had appeared all over the city, bringing damage to several homes and businesses and threatening the lives of thousands. Fortunately, GUN and local law enforcement arrived on the scene and helped detain these creatures. We also have some footage of the rampage last night. Viewer discretion is advised." The overlander new anchor stated.

Everyone gaped in shock as they saw dark creatures tearing into everything in site, including jumping at whoever was holding the camera. Police officers and GUN soldiers/robots were bravely fighting them off. It looked as if they were watching a horror movie. The footage continued until the camera was dropped for unknown reasons.

"There have been reports of a few casualties but thankfully no deaths have been reported. As quick as they arrived, these creatures appear to have left once dawn arrived. No one is quite sure what these things are, but local law enforcement is issuing a curfew tonight. Everyone is to be in their homes or a safe place by 9 p.m. should these monsters resurface. This is Westopolis News."

"Oui...now we have zese monstrosities to deal with?" Antoine asked nervously.

"It seems so. I wonder if this was mentioned in the manuscripts Professor Pickle and Uncle Chuck were studying..." Tails said in thought.

"Well, Chuck _did_ say the gunk he was lookin' at was corruptive...I hope those weren't mutated animals..." Bunnie said fearfully.

"Well look on the bright side: all we gotta do is bring the emeralds to the temples, and they shouldn't be hard to find. And the sooner we do that, the quicker this crisis is fixed." Sonic pointed out, a little nervously at that.

"Well, actually _finding_ the emeralds isn't that hard I guess, but we should move as quick as possible to find both items. However, we have to be careful when night falls, and I believe Kor can explain further what we're up against." Sally motioned to the red fox, who chuckled nervously.

"Kor? Something you want to tell us?" Amy asked with a critical look on her face.

"Well...last night while I was doin' another job, I had the displeasure of runnin' into them things. They aren't all that difficult to deal with, but they have runners and flyers with the occasional big guy...I met all three last night, and the biggest one was the hardest to kill...a few of 'em managed to bite me, but like I said, a simple laser blast or bullet is enough to subdue the small ones. Apparently from the news report their size tends to vary..."

"Wait wait wait, one of them bit you?" Rotor asked.

"Yeah...on my arms, and near my neck...I didn't feel much aside from some pain and irritation, much like a regular bite, so I should be fine." Kor assured him.

"Be as it may, what if those monsters were poisonous?" Tails asked.

Kor snorted. "You mean venomous? It takes _a lot_ more than a few bites to kill me...but they weren't carryin' any poison."

"Anyways, we all know what we're dealing with: finding both the temples and emeralds, as well as taking serious precautions at night. We'll talk about more about how we'll resolve this in the meeting room." Sally stated. The others agreed and continued on with breakfast.

After they finished, it was decided that one team would go search for temples and the other would hunt the emeralds. So far, the heroes only had one lead on a possible Gaia Temple located somewhere underwater. However, there was going to be a guide to lead them to it. Sally had Rotor, Amy, and Sonic search for this one, despite the latter's protests due to his fear of water.

Shortly after the first team had left, Sally was discussing with the others about a lead on another chaos emerald. The rest of the combat capable freedom fighters were now looking at some files the princess and Nicole were showing on a screen.

"As we now, the Egg Army has been digging up resources since the previous year. However, thanks to the files I 'borrowed' from the Death Egg, we've discovered an energy signature emanating from an excavation site, and I believe that where we'll find a chaos emerald." Sally informed them.

"According to this site's history, progress had stopped sometime before the planet broke apart, so there shouldn't be any Egg Army presence in the area." Nicole stated.

"Seems like a good opportunity to slip in an grab an emerald. I think I heard about that dig site months ago when I was touring Northamer. That's where it is right?" Kor asked.

Sally nodded. "This will be a covert operation, so Tails, Antoine, and Nicole, you 3 will come with me. Bunnie and Kor, you two will need to stay here incase something happens."

"You sure you won't need us Sal? I know I as roughed up last night but-"

"Sorry Kor, but you and Bunnie are the only two that are capable of repelling any assault on the Sky Patrol if Eggman decides to attack again. Also, we may not be back before dark, so those night creatures might show up." Sally pointed out.

"Fair enough..." Kor kicked his feet on the table. "I could go for a bit of a swim or hit the gym."

"And it wouldn't hurt ta spend some time with Cream. She's like a lil' sis to me." Bunnie smiled.

"Alright then. Tails, Antoine, let's head to hangar, grab our gear and get this started." Sally chimed. The kit and coyote walked to the hangar while Sally went to get Nicole's computer from the bridge.

"You think it's a little easy to get lost in here?" Kor asked the rabbot.

"Probably. Despite the tour Rotor gave us, I was losin' track when he started goin' over the 'less important' stuff."

"Good morning Ms. Bunnie and Mr. Kor!" Both turned to see Cream with Cheese at the door.

"Howdy Cream. How ya been keepin'?" Bunnie asked.

"I've been doing well. Myself and Cheese just finished breakfast...it seemed a bit quieter here. Did everyone else go on a mission?"

"Yeah. Sonic, Amy, and Rotor are lookin' for a Gaia Temple while Sal, Nikki, Ant, and Tails are searchin' for an emerald." Kor replied.

Cream gave a sad look upon knowing this. "Aww...I wish I was able to go..."

"Don't worry Cream. Sal-gal actually assigned the rest of us here a mission as well." The cyborg replied, hoping to cheer up the young rabbit.

"Really?"

"Yep. While the others are away, we're supposed to guard the Sky Patrol from any surprise attacks. Mind help keepin' an ear out for anything?" Bunnie explained.

"Sure! We'll do our best! Though, there's something I want to tell you though..." Cream finished, feeling nervous about what she would say next.

"Well, I'll let y'all have yer girl talk. I hadn't had time to restock Hornet after last night." Kor stated, getting out and exiting the room.

"So what's on yer mind?"

"Well...sometimes I feel really happy when Tails is around...but, I don't know what causes it...I don't know if I'm sick or anything as I've been healthy all the time." Cheese showed some concern for his friend.

Bunnie couldn't help but chuckle. She was probably the only other person who noticed the way Cream acted around the young kit. It reminded her of herself when she was younger, still getting used to her robotic limbs. Antoine may have been turned down by Sally, but he rebounded rather quickly when he formed a connection with Bunnie. Those will always remain as fond memories of her childhood. At times, the cyborg was a little traumatized by her memories of the old timeline, but those have begun to fade with time.

"Well Cream, you technically are sick, but in a good way."

"What do you mean?"

"It seems someone's caught the Love Bug." The rabbot chuckled.

With Kor, he finished restocking Hornet and buffed out any dents to its armor. He was so in tuned with fixing his robot he didn't notice two hours had passed. Hell, he's been building stuff for so long it was practically his hobby. He thought about finding ways to improve his missiles, but it had been a while since he used a gym. As he wondered about the halls, the fox hoped the others would be ok. He really wanted to join up with them on this mission, but Sally did have a point when she said he and Bunnie were the only ones capable of putting up a good defense. Cream was too young and inexperienced, and while Big certainly was strong, he wasn't exactly the right person to make any tactical decisions. This made Kor think he should also have Hornet conduct a patrol, but that could wait.

As the merc thought more and more, he found himself thinking back on his memories of the old timeline. If reality was shifted, half the people he knew probably didn't exist anymore, prime example being the Chaotix. Kor knew Vector, Espio, and Charmy were around as he heard about Metal Sonic going rogue at one point, but Mighty, Ray, Julie-Su, and Saffron? God knows what happened to them. At least the good thing was that a majority of past villains appeared to have been erased too.

Kor's mind then settled on Nicole. He still remembered they were really close in the old timeline, but now...not so much. Perhaps they hadn't reached that stage to actually form that same bond. With Bunnie and Antoine, they practically married each other on the spot after regaining theirs. Then again, before getting his memories restored Kor didn't know much about Nicole to begin with. She obviously knew about him after digging through the internet. Kor began to think that, maybe, this new version of him scared her a bit. Sure he was still his usual, half-crazy self, but probably more sadistic as at times he was more likely to blow someone's head off than ask questions. Doing mercenary work for as he long as he'd been doing it would be the cause, especially since he described in detail what he did to the Sand Blasters.

However, Nicole did care for his well-being, so it was possible she still harbored hidden feelings for him. Kor stopped for a moment and realized he was somewhere on the ship he didn't recognize. "Ah shit...where was that gym again? Maybe I should ask Rotor to install some directory signs..."

It took Kor 5 minutes before he finally found the place he was looking for. He saw Big as lying on his back in the pool with Froggy sitting on his stomach, so he decided not to bother them. The red fox was still surprised Rotor managed to fit all of this into the ship. Hell, the walrus could build a Nimitz-Class carrier if he wanted to. Kor walked into the weight room. Anytime he carried a heavy weapon it tended to slow his movement, so he figured working on his muscle strength would help, and maybe a run on a tread mill.

 **A/N: That's a wrap folks. Sorry if there wasn't any action for you this time but there should be in the next chapter. Naturally, everyone knows what happened with Sonic concerning Dark Gaia, but what of Kor? Will it be less intense or worse than what Sonic goes through? Time will tell, certainly won't be next chapter though.**


	5. The People Who Cried Werehog

**A/N: Apologies for the long wait, but now I bring you chapter 5. I really should work on my previous story, but I haven't had the will to do so yet. Anyways, I hope y'all enjoy this one.**

 **Disclaimer: All characters belong to Sega an Archie except my OC.**

Sally, Antoine, Tails, and Nicole arrived at the Sky Patrol a few hours later. They managed to secure another chaos emerald in that mining facility, and it was very lucky on their part that Eggman abandoned the place, or he would've found it. However, they also found the mine was full of beautiful, and incredibly rare crystals. Not wanting such a natural wonder being destroyed, Sally ordered to have their stealth compromised in hopes that Eggman would simply leave the place to rot.

"So how'd yer end go?" Bunnie asked.

"Oh, just picked up a this nice, shiny emerald." Tails boasted.

"Well I'll be darned, that's the 3th one! I hope it's easier finding the other 4."

"I hope so. We also came across this awesome cavern full of crystals! You should've been there. It was amazing!" The kit explained.

"Oui. However, fighting our way out of zat cave was not so amazing." Antoine reminded. Since they had to change their plans, they had to fight their way out against several badniks, including an E-1000 sentry.

"Well, y'all got here without so much as a scratch. Couldn't have been too hard." The cyborg replied.

"Zat _might_ be an understatement."

Sally looked around and noticed Nicole wasn't on her hip. The princess spotted the A.I. in her lynx form leaning against the window sill, watching the sun set on the horizon.

"You ok Nicole?"

"Sally, I want to thank you..." The chipmunk gave a confused look. "Sometimes I struggle with emotions due to being in my computer most of the time, but seeing the beauty of the Crystal Cave and imagining what would happen if we didn't do what we did...it helped me feel...alive." She smiled at her.

Sally smiled back. "Anything for you Nicole. Sometimes we just need a small push to see something for what it truly is." She looked out at the sunset as well, but then she was reminded of what happens at night this time around.

"Anyone know where Kor is?"

"I saw him in the gym. He is probably still there." Big replied.

"Alright. It's going to be dark soon, and those creatures might appear..."

Kor rested his arms on the floor as he sat on his knees inside the hot bath that was next to the much larger swimming pool, yelping slightly as his skin touched the heat of the water. After getting comfortable, he settled down. The fox worked his muscles to the point they were rather sore, especially his tail. While in the gym, he couldn't help but think about how Tails often used his rear appendages in combat. Despite the kit's namesakes being fluffy, they could be as hard a steel rebar when flexed, which would explain why it was easy for him to tear through Eggman's toys as if they were paper. So, with that thought in mind, Kor decided to work on making his tail a capable weapon. Granted, not to the same level as Tails, but enough to knock the wind out of someone. Unfortunately, all it did was make his ass sore, so he hoped the hot water would relax his muscles.

As his eyes closed, his mind drifted to some of the new memories he had over the last two years. There were some things he yet to reveal to the others, all he told them was what they wanted to know. Said secrets were things he didn't want to discuss until he was ready, or asked. One such thing was the fact that Kor actually had a girlfriend during his days as a free-lance mercenary. Main reason they weren't together now was due to a rather nasty breakup. The fox didn't realize it now, but it was someone just about everyone knew, or used to.

Kor's left ear twitched as he heard the distinct sound of someone hovering in the air. He didn't need to open his eyes to know who it was. "Hey Kor. You weren't sleeping were you?"

"No Tails, just thinking, and trying to make my muscles less sore."

"Well, you'll want to finish soon. It's gonna be dark in half an hour and given the news we saw this morning...I don't think we'll be getting much sleep tonight."

The engineer's eyes shot open. "Geez I must've been in here for hours. Didn't think it was dark already..."

"What were you doing?"

"Working on my arms and quads, and trying to strengthen my tail..." Kor got out of the bath. His body shivered a bit from the sudden change in temperature.

Tails tilted his head in confusion. "Your tail? Why would you need to work on that? You carry like 10 different weapons all the time."

"Well, sometimes you gotta deal with someone the old fashion way. Plus I've seen you do it all the time." The older fox replied as he dried himself with a towel. His fur puffed out for a bit when he finished, which caused the kit to laugh. He was met with an annoyed look.

 **-Elsewhere-**

At the somewhat abandoned Crystal Cave, two Egg Army personnel were surveying the damage. After the security system had alerted them of intruders, the two made their way over in hopes of capturing whoever was foolish enough to trespass into Eggman's territory. Unfortunately, all they were met with were signs of forced entry as well as several dead badniks littering the floor.

"Whoever came through here knows how to make an entrance. And I knew leaving these dumb robots here was a stupid idea!" One of them kicked the severed head of a scorpion badnik in frustration.

"Calm yourself Cassia. Whoever it was obviously isn't someone to be taken lightly..."

"Don't worry Clove. With these enhancements, they'll be sorry they ever met me." Cassia boasted.

Cassia and Clove were two pronghorns who served as Egg Bosses for Northamera. Being sisters, the two were nearly identical, but since joining Eggman they had some obvious differences. Clove was still mostly organic with the sole except being her feet, and possibly her legs. Cassia, on the other hand, one would assume she's a robot due to the fact she had been subjected to heavy cyberization. This was due to having a potentially fatal disease that disabled some of her senses, and likely would have killed her had it progressed further. In fact, it was that very reason the two sisters went to Eggman for help. The tyrant agreed, for a price that is.

Once they got to a security room, Clove begins to check the logs. She gasped in surprise when it shows Tails making a face at the camera whilst holding the red chaos emerald.

Cassia grew irate very quickly. "Who are these clowns?!"

"If I had to guess, the Freedom Fighters. They've been a thorn in Eggman's side for quite a while..." Clove stated.

"I really wish I could've been here just so I could punch that fox in his face..."

The two continued watching the footage, all the way until the heroes made their escape. "Given how they took out our E-1000 units without trouble, I wouldn't advise that you engaged them. Either way, _he's_ going to want to know what happened..." Clove grimaced.

"Alright, ring up him..." Cassia looked around, muttering to herself. "Shotty mining equipment...if the emerald's been here all this time, how come we haven't found it?..."

A minute later, Eggman's face appeared on the screen. "You two better have a good reason for interrupting me! I'm busy!"

"Apologies for the intrusion doctor, but the mining facility here was recently raided by the Freedom Fighters, and it appears they made off with something...valuable..." Clove posted the footage on-screen.

Eggman grew angry at this, especially seeing Tails' face mocking the camera. "Blast it all! I knew an emerald was there somewhere...forget about that derelict mining site and await further orders!"

"Understood." Clove said before Eggman cut the line.

"Orbot! Cubot! Bring me my energy files! That princess has outsmarted me for the _last_ time! She was lucky I was busy making my way back to the Death Egg on this puzzle of a planet, but she'll soon learn that her information is rather, _outdated_." The doctor grinned evilly.

After reading through his files, he deduced the next promising energy signature was located somewhere in Soumerca. "Get Thunderbolt on the line!"

After a minute, a small, yellow chinchilla appeared on the screen. "Ah, Lord Eggman! I was just about to call you. My faction has recovered a chaos emerald and can have sent to you in a matter of hours!" The rodent said with glee.

"Hold on to it, but don't even _think_ about keeping it for yourself." The doctor warned. "The emerald will be perfect bait for those who think they're more clever than me!"

"O-Of course Lord Eggman!" Thunderbolt said, eagerly awaiting to hear his plan. Now, Thunderbolt was the Egg Boss of Sourmerca, but if one were to look up the meaning 'kiss-ass' in a dictionary, her picture would seen. By far, she is the only one in the entire Egg Army who worships the ground Eggman walks on, and her room gives even more evidence of this. The cybernetics she was equipped with allows her to give off powerful electrical blasts, which isn't good as her short stature is equally matched by her even shorter temper. Despite her size, she often compensates for this by using a battle suit. However, she would soon realize she'd get more than she bargained for.

 **-Several Hours Later-**

Sonic, Rotor, and Amy returned from their trip close to dawn, and were met with the Freedom Fighters dealing with the dark creatures of the night. After that little skirmish, the trio revealed that they successfully located a Gaia Temple beneath the ocean, and also learned that Chaos left the Master Emerald in order to keep the oceans from falling into the massive fissures in the planet. Now, the heroes were focusing once more on finding the emeralds, as Sally pinpointed another source emanating from Soumerca.

This time, Sonic, Kor, Amy, and Sally would be on site. Bunnie and Antoine were sent to help a town that had recently been damaged by a tsunami, leaving everyone else to guard the Sky Patrol. While on her previous trip, Amy learned the ability Mystic Melody, which in essence made her a living chaos emerald detector. However, one could tell things wouldn't be easy, because as soon as the group arrived, they had to deal with an E-100 unit.

Sonic was weaving through the jungle as E-113 Xi gave chase, shooting at him with its laser gun for a tail. Xi was designed to be similar to a monkey, making it very adept to the terrain. "That's right bright eyes! Right this way!" The hedgehog taunted.

He was running along a path where the others had set up an ambush. Sally and Amy had their sword and hammer ready while Kor had his AA-12 loaded with armor-piercing rounds. Unfortunately, Xi's thermal senses detected them, and when it and Sonic came by, it swiped at the girls, forcing them to dodge while simultaneously shooting at Kor, forcing him to move as well.

"Shoot! You guys ok?!" The hedgehog asked, still running.

"We're fine! Put some distance between you and that thing! Kor! Get ready for Plan B!" Sally replied.

The fox readjusted his goggles before pulling on his detonator. Further up ahead he planted some stickybombs and covered them with leaves. Once Sonic passed over it, the wind revealed the trap just seconds before Xi crossed over it. Kor pressed the button once Xi was within range, only for nothing to happen. However, a few of the bombs stuck to the robot's legs.

"What in the..." Kor asked in disbelief.

"Kor what happened?" Sally asked.

"Don't know! Think this damn jungle is messin' with the signal!" The fox replied, repeatedly pressing the button. He slammed on it to the point it jammed, which then caused the bombs on the path to explode, forming a crater and causing nearby birds to flee from the trees.

Amy just groaned. "Well, so much for that plan..."

"Gotta hand it to Eggman, his E-100 robos always give me a workout...but I've never lost to one yet, and I don't plan on changing that!" Sonic smirked, eyeing a cliff. He planned to run up and catch Xi off guard with an attack from above. However, before he could get high enough, Xi fired another blast. It barely missed and impacted just above Sonic, the resulting explosion causing him to fall back down.

"Grr...lucky shot..."

Xi prepared another shot to finish him off, but to Sonic's surprise, Ray the Flying Squirrel appeared at the last moment and grabbed the hedgehog. The super badnik continued to fire at them but failed to land a single hit. It was then that a certain armadillo grabbed one of the robot's legs and threw it harshly into the cliff-face. It fell to the ground and didn't appear to come back online.

"Why is it whenever we meet, you're always in some kind of trouble?" Mighty asked with a smirk.

"Heh, nice to see you too Mighty." Sonic said.

"Sonic! Are you alright?" Amy asked as she and the others caught up.

"It's all good. Mighty and Ray came out of nowhere to lend a hand!"

"It was nothing your highness. We were in the area, heard the fighting, and came to help." Mighty stated.

Sally waved him off with a smile. "No need for the formalities. As far as I'm concerned you two are honorary freedom fighters."

"Thanks. That means a lot."

Amy stared at the robot before glaring at Sonic. "I told you I wanted a shot at it!"

"Hey, _Mighty_ totaled it, not mwah." Sonic smirked.

"Hey Ray I got a question, how come you and muscles over there aren't with the Chaotix?" Kor asked.

"Um...you should ask Mighty about that..." Ray said nervously.

Suddenly, Xi came online and took a swipe at the heroes. However, Amy quickly batted the robot back into the cliff. Seconds later, the stickybombs on its legs activated, blowing it to pieces.

"Well Ames, you got your wish." Sonic chuckled.

"Heh, forgot to extend the antenna on the remote." Kor said sheepishly.

"Looks like that robot gave you guys some trouble. Our camp isn't that far, so y'all wanna chill for a bit?" The armadillo asked.

Sonic shook his head. "No can do man! We appreciate the offer but we're-"

"Saving the world?" Mighty finished, smirking.

The blue blur gave him a questionable glare. "You taking psychic lessons from Silver?"

"Given your reputation Sonic I think that'd be obvious." Kor stated. "And I think it'd be nice to chill after nearly getting my face blasted."

"What he said. I know you're always moving, but if Sally is here, then it _must_ be serious business." Mighty explained as everyone walked through the jungle.

"Well, we're hunting down the chaos emeralds as well as ancient sites called Gaia Temples. Together, their combined power should fix the planet." The princess stated.

Both Mighty and Ray began to recall when the earth began to break apart. Parts of the jungle fell into the planet, with which Ray having several near-misses just to avoid being crushed. Mighty attempted to save as many animals as he could, but even he felt powerless to do anything. He was getting angry just from remembering it.

"Mighty, remember Master Moss' lessons..." Ray advised.

Mighty tightened his fists before relaxing himself. "Sorry about that. So you think there's an emerald and a temple out here?"

"Yup! Sal tapped into Eggman's network, so whenever he gets a lead on anything, we can beat him to it!" Sonic boasted.

"While that may be true Sonic, knowing Eggman he's likely figured that out by now. It's very well possible he could use that info _against_ us..." The fox warned.

"Things have been going smoothly...it's just a feeling, but Eggman doesn't station his E-100 units just _anywhere_. It felt like that unit was waiting to ambush us..." Sally said in thought.

"Well Sal, I can tell you this from my own experience. From the past times I've hacked the EggNet, I've found he only has a small amount of E-100 units, 20 to be exact. Would be 23, but Gamma and Omega turned traitor, and I stole _and_ deleted the file for E-117 that was on his database." Kor smirked at that. "But, let me tell you right now that if he had an E-100 unit of all things out here, he _must_ know that we're coming."

Ray rubbed his chin in thought. "Well, the Egg Army was working hard to secure something. Maybe the robot was sent to help guard it?"

"That would be very likely. I think you and Sally are over-thinking this, Kor." Amy said in thought.

The fox just snorted. "Fine, but if it turns out I was right, I get to laugh at your pretty face Amy."

"Do that and-wait, did you say my face was pretty?" The hedgehog beamed, causing a sweat-drop to form on Kor's head.

" _Anyway_ , do you have any proof of this?" Sally asked.

"Yep, been scouting the base for weeks. Didn't have any issues til now due to the huge number of troops they have." Mighty explained. They reached a large onion-shaped hut that stood on a foundation a few feet off the ground.

Kor looked around. "Nice place."

"Let's it's not _my_ place per se, and speaking of which, I'd you all to meet my master, Moss." Mighty gestured to a green sloth. Moss appeared to be in his 50s, and despite his age (and the general speculation of sloths) he moved at regular speed.

Moss shook his head with a smile. "We are all masters _and_ pupils, for we all have something to teach. Welcome everyone."

"Mighty was worried about losing control since he's so strong. Now, thanks to Moss, I've never seen him so happy." Ray explained.

The Blue Blur just chuckled. "You found wisdom from his fuzzy fortune cookie?" Mighty just cast an annoyed look at him, but the hedgehog was silenced when Moss eyed him critically.

"You...you have a touch of darkness in you. An inner turmoil you struggle to contain on your own..." Moss stated, pointing his finger at Sonic's chest.

"I knew it! It's from when you were exposed to that Dark Gaia stuff wasn't it?!" Amy proclaimed.

Everyone else began asking similar questions. There were indeed times Sonic didn't act like himself, mainly sudden phases of aggression while in battle, which Sonic had to admit to himself were occurring more often as days passed. The hedgehog knew what they were asking about, but he didn't want them to be worrying about his condition, especially with the planet broken apart. "Oh for the millionth time, I'm _fine_! The world needs help, not me! Let's just pinpoint this emerald already!"

Amy sighed in annoyance. "Stubborn hedgehog..." She then began to perform mystic melody. In a minute, she all the information she needed. "I sense the chaos emerald's energy is close by, a few miles to the south..."

Mighty watched in confusion. "What is she doing?"

"Mystic Melody. She learned it under the ocean. I'll tell ya later." Sonic replied.

"Well, you may want to say it now. Only thing to the south is the Egg Army base, so if we want to grab the emerald before they ship it off, we'll need to attack tonight...and those _things_ come out at that time..."

"Hopefully they'll be distracted by the monsters to focus on us." Sally stated.

" _Hopefully_...hey Moss, mind tellin' if I got somethin' inside me that needs to be fixed?" Kor asked.

"Hmm..." Moss eyed the fox critically. "You have something of your past you feel you have to make amends with, and you too have a darkness inside of you. However, it is more controlled and less likely to grow unless you lose control of yourself..."

Kor stared at him in silence. "...Right...I hope that isn't because I've had to _off_ people in the past..." He scratched his head nervously.

 **-Later that evening-**

The 6 heroes eyed the Egg Army base. Despite the fact it was dark out, none of the dark gaia monsters had been seen. It seems they don't appear every time night falls. Still, they had to be cautious. Some badniks patrolled here and there but in general there wasn't a lot of security. The Egg Army set up shop around an old temple with a massive crater that was dug out in the center of the base. Right in the center of that hole, for all to see via spotlights, was a capsule containing another chaos emerald.

Kor was looking at it through a pair of binoculars. "I don't like the look of this Sal. You'd think a chaos emerald, an object of immense power, would be heavily guarded, not just by small bots in such small numbers. And it's _out_ _in plain view_. This is obviously a trap."

The princess agreed. "Yeah...something's not right..."

"Isn't that because we took out the super-badnik?" Sonic asked.

"Maybe, but they should still be guarding against the monsters." Sally pointed out.

"Welp, in that case, we're going now before it gets worse. Come on guys!" Sonic yelled before sprinting out of cover, with Amy in tow.

"Sonic! That wasn't the plan!" Sally yelled, but her cries fell on deaf ears.

Kor pinched the bridge between his eyes in annoyance. "How can you stand him?"

"I ask myself that sometimes..." The chipmunk replied, watching the two hedgehogs easily deal with the badniks.

"Well guys, since Plan A is out the window, and the two loud-mouths down there made so much noise, let's get this emerald before the heat turns up..." The fox stated.

The rest of the heroes cautiously moved toward the emerald where the two hedgehogs were waiting. "Guess the Egg Army is asleep. Either way, we win. Let's grab this emerald and get going." Sonic boasted.

However, before anyone could act, one of the spotlight towers opened up, revealing an electrical generator. A second one opened up on the main tower. The amount of electrons in the air caused everyone's fur to stand on end. A large door opened up in the main tower's mid-section, revealing Thunderbolt in her battle suit while being backed by Egg Army personnel.

"You've given Lord Eggman so much trouble Freedom Fighters! I honestly didn't think you'd fall for our trap so easily." The chinchilla grinned.

Kor glared at Sonic and Amy. "I told you idiots it was a trap!"

"However, you won't have to live with the indignity for long. I don't take prisoners. Activate the generators!"

Everyone scrambled as bolts of electricity flew around, yet with no cover it was only a matter of time before they were stricken. Ray was the first to go down due to being up too high, with Mighty following suit a second later. Sally was next when a bolt shocked the ground just a foot from her, Kor got taken down while trying to destroy one of the units, and Amy thrown off her feet from another bolt, losing her hammer in the process. Sonic was finally stricken himself along with his friends. Thunderbolt was watching with glee as Eggman's plan was working. However, what they didn't know was the transformation Sonic was going through. Hearing the cries of his friends, being struck by electricity, and all the bottled up aggression from past missions was finally coming to a head. He could no longer contain his anger.

Sonic's entire body starting changing into something out of a horror movie. His entire body gained a few feet in height, his fur grew out and changed to purple with white tips on his quills, his teeth looked like that of a wolf's, his hands grew to the point his gloves ripped open, revealing sharp claws, and for some reason his shoes became cleats. The new hedgehog gave a roar in anger that sent a chill down the spines of some soldiers. The Werehog, was finally unleashed.

The heroes were shocked as Sonic continued to give a bellowing roar, finally stopping as he eyed the main tower. To everyone's surprise, his arm literally stretched until it tore into the metal. He ripped out the main control circuit and tossed it at the other tower, shutting off the electrical storm. The soldiers looked as if they were going to piss themselves at any moment, yet Thunderbolt was unfazed.

"Since when could he...forget it! Attack!" No one had moved. "I said ATTACK!" She commanded.

Hurriedly, the soldiers rushed in. Sonic glared at them before crouching to all-fours and stormed his way through them, sending the opposition either flying or running for cover. Thunderbolt grew angry and jumped out, planning to deal with Sonic herself. However, Sonic simply punched _through_ the suit, sending the chinchilla flying through the protective glass.

Picking herself up from her tumble, Thunderbolt roared at the hedgehog. "You savage! You'll pay for this humiliation! I'll-" She stopped when Sonic came charging at her. Screaming like a 5-year-old, she started climbing up the nearest cliff-face with the werehog in pursuit.

The heroes still gawked at the scene. "Man...am I gonna turn into _that_ if I get angry enough?!" Kor asked, beginning to panic.

"It's gotta be from that Dark Gaia energy he was exposed to...and we don't know about that Kor..." Sally said, picking herself up.

"We got to do something! We can't just sit here and not help my poor Sonic!" Amy exclaimed.

"We will, but...how?..." Sally hadn't a clue how to deal with this. Chances are Sonic might turn on _them_ and deal some serious injury.

"You guys get the emerald. I'll deal with Sonic..." Mighty stated, helping Ray to his feet.

"You sure Mighty? I know you're strong, but Sonic...he's practically feral right now. No tellin' what new powers he has..." Kor said, uncertain.

"I'm sure! Just get the emerald and come find us. Hopefully I can calm him down before he does something he regrets!" The armadillo replied, climbing up the cliff.

The fox grabbed his gun and shot the container open, retrieving the gray emerald. The Egg Army was in too much disarray to even bother stopping him.

Meanwhile, Sonic continued to chase Thunderbolt through the jungle, making frequent swipes at her. The Egg Boss made an attempt to stop him by releasing an electric blast, but all it did was piss him off even more. Stretching his arm out, Sonic grabbed the chinchilla and was about to cut her open when Mighty tackled him to the ground. Knowing she stood no chance against the werehog, Thunderbolt made a beeline for her base.

Mighty let go when he was sure the chinchilla was a safe distance away. "Sonic, listen to me. This isn't you! Yes, she tried to kill us all, but you _stopped_ her and _saved_ us. You don't need to kill her."

The werehog snarled. "She's getting away!" His voice was deeper and gruff due to his new form.

"Sonic, she's _beaten_. We'll deal with her later, but right now I need you to calm down. I know what it's like to be in the situation you're in...all that power, too much wrong in the world...it's enough to drive anyone crazy. Look, Ray and the others are securing the emerald. I can take you to Moss and he can help sort this out." The armadillo pleaded.

Unfortunately, due to the corruption from Dark Gaia's energy, Mighty's words came across as something else to the werehog. In his eyes, he saw Mighty as a devilish figure that was taunting and insulting him. "You think you know what _this_ is?! You wouldn't understand at all!" Sonic roared, throwing a punch at Mighty.

Instinctively he ducked. "That's not what I meant! You need to control your rage or it controls-!" The armadillo as cut off as Sonic tossed him into the air before slamming him into the ground. Next, the werehog punched him through several trees. Luckily, his shell took the brunt of the damage, though Mighty found himself getting steadily irritated. "Measured breaths...he's my friend, and needs help...hopefully I can get him to calm down before _I_ lose it..." He muttered to himself.

The two clashed again. Sonic stretched his arm out to punch Mighty, but this time Mighty grabbed it and swung Sonic into a few trees, knocking the wind out of him. The bruiser tried once more with words to get through to Sonic, but it just made him angrier. The werehog double-kicked Mighty into a small clearing before pursuing him. Unbeknownst to either of them, Sally and co. were watching from a distance.

"Wow, they're tearing the jungle apart!" Ray stated, surveying the damage. He winced when he saw Sonic buck Mighty.

"We need to end this before they end up killing each other...anyone got an idea?" Kor asked.

Sally put on her thinking cap and went over the situation in her head. "Sonic always does what he believes is right...so in his current form it's likely messing with his perception of everything, and if that's the case..." She muttered. "Ok here's the plan. Kor and Ray, you two stop Mighty. Amy, follow my lead."

Sonic dashed into the clearing as Mighty picked himself up. The armadillo was incredibly frustrated at how Sonic just ignored or skewed whatever he was saying. It seemed words would not be enough to make him chill out. Mighty then realized he may have to knock Sonic out in order to make him stop. The werehog howled before charging once more, Mighty doing the same. However, just as they were feet away from clashing again, the others stepped in between, forcing them to stop.

Mighty was pissed at Ray and Kor for blocking his path. "Guys, _move_! I need to stop him before-!"

"You _did_ stop him Mighty. That's what you've been doing this whole time, making sure he didn't do anything crazy." Kor retorted.

"Also, Sally has a plan." Ray informed. Mighty's face contorted in anger for a few seconds before he calmed himself. "Thanks..."

Sally and Amy hadn't moved an inch despite Sonic's _very_ intimidating appearance, and the fact he was towering over them. "What are you two doing?!" The werehog bellowed.

"You _can't_ hurt him Sonic. You don't _want_ to hurt him. You'll do what's right, no matter what, and I respect that. Several years ago when Eggman first came to power, I thought you were crazy when you said you'd drive him out _and_ rescue my father, _on your own_. But, you succeeded." Sally told him.

"You even stood up to Perfect Chaos when we thought all was lost! You saved us by your sheer willpower alone!" Amy reminded him.

"I actually heard about that on the news. Nice job by the way." Kor added.

"So please...show us that willpower again...or would you prefer to fight the friends you're trying to protect. Your choice..." Amy stated sincerely.

As they talked, Sonic's vision cleared up to the point he was seeing everything as normal again. Finally getting his mind together, Sonic looked himself, Mighty, and the devastation that was brought onto the forest during their scuffle. Sonic fell to his knees after realizing all that he did. "I'm sorry everyone...I...I don't know what came over me...I thought I could handle this 'dark gaia' whatever on my own...but all I did was cause more trouble and nearly do some serious damage to Mighty..."

"There's my Sonic!" Amy cheered.

"Come on. We should get out of here before the Egg Army regroups." Sally suggested.

"I doubt they will since Sonic scared the piss out of them." Kor replied, tossing the emerald in his hands. "Plus I doubt Thunderbutt will do anything for a while since Sonic also scared her to death. Maybe that new form of yours isn't so bad." The fox was met with glares from everyone.

"Does he always say the wrong thing at the worst times?" Mighty asked.

"Occasionally..." Sally admitted.

Kor rolled his eyes. "I'm saying, he might be able to use his new form to his advantage, especially since you could tear through trees like it was cardboard."

 **A/N: Gonna stop it right there. Again, sorry for the long overdue chapter, but you know how life is. Of course, this is catching up to the point where you'll see some stuff from the comics if you read them, so sorry if it's not bringing anything new to the table. However, I'll try to be a bit more creative.**


	6. Won't Be Fooled Twice

**A/N: Welcome ladies and gents to #6. After Sonic's rather, surprising, transformation, they managed to get him to end his rampage as well as secure a chaos emerald. Naturally, Eggman will be pissed at this, but he has another plan in store.**

Come the next day, Eggman was chewing out Thunderbolt for failing to carry out his plan. Despite the fact the little chinchilla worshipped the tyrant, she still feared him. Thunderbolt's ears flattened on her head as she cringed from Eggman's rant. Still shaken up by the events of the pervious night, the last thing she needed was being yelled at by her boss.

"T-To be fair your unruliness, n-none of us expected Sonic to turn into...well whatever is was. B-But I'm ready now! We know what to expect, so we can still-"

"You'll find me a Gaia Temple or I won't leave enough of you to make gloves! _IS THAT CLEAR_?!" Eggman ordered, sticking his finger through Thunderbolt's forehead on the holo-screen to emphasize his point.

"Y-Y-Yes sir." The Egg Boss cringe before Eggman ended the call.

"Bah! I miss all my forces being roboticized. No sass, no excuses, and no need to threaten life and limb..."

"To be fair sir, you do threaten to turn some of your robots into scrap." Orbot pointed out.

"True...some of them have little forward thinking, and I do enjoy the threatening, but the lack of competency is infuriating!"

"Actually, there has been no major loss in productivity since you began cyberizing your soldiers. In fact, Thunderbolt actually _gained_ territory since the world fell apart. Also, it appears the rest of the Egg Army isn't having much trouble adapting to the situation. G.U.N. on the other hand..." The sphere robot brought up a map of the United Federation's forces current positions around the globe.

"Hmm...seems their forces are spread thin. The shattered planet's haywire magnetic field must be playing havoc with their network. No wonder they can barely communicate to each other! Oh ho ho ho! With G.U.N. so unorganized, they won't be an issue after all. Now I can concentrate on Sonic and his meddling band of misfits!" Eggman grinned with glee.

"By the way boss, we got the final numbers on that Dark Gaia energy." Cubot chimed in, sending the results to the doctor.

The list had general natural resources that could be used for energy, which included natural gas, coal, solar power, and of course, rings. What surprised Eggman was the energy output Dark Gaia energy was capable of. Compared to the rest of the list, rings were second highest on the list, yet the dark energy could put out roughly twice as much power. The only energy that surpassed it were the chaos emeralds, due to their unlimited power.

"If I could tap into even a _tenth_ of this Dark Gaia energy, it could power my empire for 100 years! But, I'll need to build something to channel it all in one spot..." Eggman moved the graph out of the way and brought up the world map again. "I'll built the largest refinery on the planet to contain it. I'll work on the defenses soon, but I still need to secure the chaos emeralds and Gaia Temples. Once I have those, the planet will never be fixed, and I can mine the Dark Gaia energy as long as I want! It's perfect!" The doctor laughed.

"But sir, isn't there a certain obstacle in the way?" Orbot pointed out.

"Obviously. Sonic won't stop until he puts this pitiful planet back together. However, I already have a surprise for them once they decide to get the next emerald. Now, it's just a matter of patience." Eggman gave a wicked grin as he chuckled evilly. The heroes were lucky that Sonic saved their hides, _again_ , but without him, he was sure they were doomed.

 **-Sky Patrol-**

Due to his feral behavior the first time he became a werehog, Sonic decided it was best if he stayed with Mighty, Ray, and Moss so they could help him control his powers. Sally questioned if that was best, but Sonic was firm. He didn't want to lose it while they were on the Sky Patrol, which would have been _very_ bad if he did. Still, the heroes had more important things to do, such as continuing to track the chaos emeralds. At the moment, everyone, including Big, Cream, and Cheese, were gathered in the meeting room.

Sally stood next to screen with Nicole gesturing to 7 icons on a chart resembling the chaos emeralds. "Ok team, we've been making good progress so far. Two of the emeralds are here with us, and, after getting in contact with the Chaotix a minute ago, Knuckles is in possession of the 3rd one. Thanks to Amy's new Mystic Melody technique, this will help narrow our search for the rest of the emeralds as well as the Gaia Temples. But, we can't let the success get to our heads, especially after our last mission..." Amy and Kor frowned a bit at the mention of that. "But to that end, Nicole?"

"After mining our stolen Eggnet data for any emerald findings, I discovered the blue emerald was recently recovered by the Egg Army in Northermera. It's currently being prepped for pickup, so this gives us time to intercept it before it's shipped out." The holo-lynx then widened the map screen, showing the area the emerald was being held. "Our best chance at getting it would be in the Sand Hill Zone."

"Zat is close to ze last base we raided." Antoine pointed out.

"Yeah, but it seems _too_ good to be true. We wouldn't have escaped Thunderhead's trap if Sonic didn't suddenly transform at the last second. Some of mah fur is still standin' from then...but there ain't no tellin' what could be out there this time." Kor pointed out.

"However, Eggman did lose one of his precious E-100 units in the process. At most, I expect a super-badnik, or some troops guarding the emerald." Rotor added.

"Still, seems very risky. Shouldn't we wait for Sonic to get back first?" Tails asked.

Amy placed a hand on the kit's shoulder. "Tails, I want him back soon as well, but he needs to...get better first."

"But we're his friends. We should be able to help him."

"No offense Tails, but after what we saw last night, I don't think any of us know how to deal with that. And to be fair I'm still a bit pissed at him for making us run into that trap..." Kor said, folding his arms.

"You're still going on about that?!" The hammer summoner glared at the engineer.

"Amy, if you and Sonic hadn't gotten over-eager we wouldn't have had to deal with all of that crap last night. Like it or not it's a fact." The fox retorted, bearing his own glare.

Bunnie decided to cut in before tensions got worse. "May I point out this mission _could_ help him as well? If the chaos emeralds can fix the planet, maybe they can fix whatever's ailin' Sonic."

"Agreed. Whether it's a trap or just plain sloppiness on his part, we can't allow Eggman a chance to move the emerald to a more secure location. Since this could be risky, we'll put it to a vote. All in favor of going after the-" The princess stopped herself after noticing everyone already had their hand raised. "Hah, alright then. Antoine and Bunnie-you're with me. We'll go in first to scout the area, but be prepared for a fight."

The married couple nodded.

"Rotor, Tails, and Amy. You guys will be our backup. Nicole will keep an eye on the scanners."

"Noted." Rotor smiled.

Kor sighed, ears dropping slightly. "Am I gonna be sittin' up here guarding the place again?..."

"Actually Kor, you're going to be our emergency support. If things get really dicey, I want you to be ready to bring in some heavy firepower." Sally ordered.

"Wouldn't the Sky Patrol offer aerial bombardment better?" The engineer pointed out.

"True, but I'm certain Hornet can provide the same level of protection with more accuracy. That is what you built it for correct?"

"Fair enough."

Cream walked up to Sally with a frown on her face. "What about Cheese and I? And Mr. Big?" **(A/N: Not THAT Mr. Big)**

Sally knelt down to the young bunny's level. "You 3 need to stay up here where it's safe. You've all come a long way, but you need more training before I let you do something this dangerous." She said sorrowful, but sweetly.

Cream was still a bit upset, but at least she understood the situation. "Ok then."

"Well everyone, you know your positions. We'll be close to the emerald's location in a few hours, so we need to be prepared for anything and everything." The princess stated.

However, Amy wasn't entirely sure if herself or Sally would be fit to go back in the field. "You sure you're ready to go back out Sally? We got shocked pretty bad last night..."

"I'm certain Amy. This time, we're not gonna let ourselves get caught with our hands in the cookie jar."

Once the meeting was adjourned, Sally, Antoine, and Bunnie stayed to plan their approach. Kor left to the armory to check and restock his weapons. Most of them were Mann Co. licensed, but he also had some arms from other companies. Tails and Rotor hung out in the hanger, chatting about various tech while making sure the Tornado, Twister, and their extreme gear were in proper condition.

Amy strolled the halls, her mind on Sonic (since when is it not?...). She dearly hoped that he could overcome this new transformation of his. She had witnessed most of them, but this...this was something else. She didn't want to think about it too much, but she couldn't help it as the pink hedgehog noticed the sun almost settled on the horizon.

"Ms. Amy? Are you ok?"

The hammering heroine was jolted from her thoughts upon hearing the young rabbit's voice. "O-Oh, hey Cream. Didn't see you there."

"Are you thinking about Mr. Sonic?"

"Yeah...I just hope he'll be ok...if you saw him last night, he...he just wasn't himself. I don't know what would've happened if we didn't snap him out of it..."

"Do you think he'll be ok?..." Cream asked, a worried look on her face. Cheese shared her sentiments.

However, Amy started to smile, watching the sun begin to set. "I'm sure he'll be fine. He's _Sonic_ after all. He can handle anything anyone throws at him." She turned to Cream. "You aren't still upset about not being able to go are you?"

"Well...a little..."

"I feel ya Cream. I used to complain a lot about not being allowed to go on missions until I accidentally made myself older..."

Cream suddenly beamed. "Do you think I'll be able to go if I made myself older?"

A sweatdrop formed on Amy's head and quickly debunked the idea. "No no no Cream. I'm not saying you _should_ do it, but last night myself and Sally got zapped pretty bad and we don't want you to go through what we did, and tonight may be worse...but don't feel down about it though. You'll get your chance." She smiled.

Cream smiled back. It felt nice they were keeping her out of harm's way, even though she wished to be able to do more for the greater good. So far, all she had done was help get everyone else ready for the day, but it did give her satisfaction knowing that helping everyone in this fashion, they would be prepared to carry out the missions for the day.

Hours later, the Sky Patrol arrives near the Sand Hills. With the sun well below the horizon, the heroes were edgy about having to spend another night fighting Dark Gaia's monsters. Fortunately, none have appeared. Sally, Antoine, and Bunnie disembark from the flying fortress before taking up positions around the emerald's location. The powerful gem itself was enclosed in a capsule, the same one that the gray emerald was in. The capsule itself is surrounded by 4 large gateways that served an unknown purpose. Besides that, it seemed nothing else was guarding the emerald.

"Ze emerald is in ze plain daylight. This seems rather...odd..." Antoine whispered into his comm. device.

"No guards in site Sal." Bunnie replied.

"This HAS to be a trap..." They heard Sally mutter over the mic.

"So for ze gateways, do you think zey serve as ze decoys?"

"It's Eggman, could be anything..."

"Well, your call Sal. We may not get another shot at this..." The rabbot stated while eyeing the capsule.

"Right...Bunnie, fly to the top of that outcropping and cover us. Antoine, we're going for the emerald. Make sure we cover each other as well."

"Oui."

Bunnie blasted up to the top of a large rock spire and looked around, still not seeing an enemy presence. "Bunnie, anything?" "Just y'all two and lots an' lots of sand..."

However, the cyborg didn't notice an unidentified flying object heading directly towards her from a 1/2 mile away. Ears perking upward, she hears what sounds like a jet. "Oh mah stars!" Was all she could say before catching a wing to the chest, knocking her off the spire.

The UFO in question was actually an E-100 robot. Within seconds of knocking Bunnie down, two more E-100 units ambush Antoine and Sally, each designed for a different purpose. One was designed for aerial combat, and some odd reason resembled a chicken. Another appears to have been designed for drilling operations, and the last badnik is capable of generating bombs on a timed fuse, possibly for demolition purposes, as well as destroying enemies. Respectively, their names were Iota, Kappa, and Lambda.

Sally picked herself up off the ground before breaking into full sprint. Lambda gave chase, throwing more bombs at her, but fortunately they fell short. "Guys! Need some support here!"

"I would but I am busy with zis super badnik!" Antoine yelled, ducking as Kappa threw one of its drilled arms at him.

Bunnie was hiding inside one of the ancient ruins, hoping to have lost Iota. "If y'all can lure 'em close enough I might be able to blast 'em, but this darn flyin' badnik is keepin' me pinned!" She ducked down as the robot flew past, hoping it didn't spot her.

Sally looked up and noticed it flying away, but it was gonna turn to make another pass any second now. She had to lose Lambda to give her space to formulate some sort of plan. "You have 20 seconds before it comes back."

Bunnie nodded before jumping from her hiding spot. She charged up her hand to blast Lambda, but the badnik saw her coming and shot a few bombs at her in self defense. Sally tried to intervene while its back as turned, but like a pair of well-trained soldiers, Iota covered its buddy by strafing the ground in front of Sally, forcing her back. The chipmunk growled in frustration. She knew it was a trap and had expected some resistance, probably from the Egg Army or a single super badnik. But _3_ of the E-100 series? This was nuts!

This didn't go unnoticed on the Sky Patrol. Rotor and Kor sat in the command room as they eyed the radar showing both Team Freedom as well as the badniks in the area. "Yeesh...Eggman must've been really pissed to come up with this." The fox noted.

Rotor put mic on speaker. "Tails! Amy! Meet me in the hanger! Team Freedom needs us. Nicole, you're in charge. Keep the guns warm and keep this ship steady."

"Roger that." The lynx replied.

The engineer watched as Rotor ran out the room, before turning to the A.I. "Nicole, can you give me a visual of what these E-100s look like?"

"Right, putting up the camera now."

The two watched as the three super-badniks attacked Team Freedom, but luckily Team Fighters was closing in. "Wait...I know those bots."

Nicole shot a confused look at him. "You do?"

"Yeah. When I was scrolling through Eggman's E-100 files I saw the blueprints for them. If memory serves those are E-100's 8-10. 8's a flyer obviously, 9 was supposed to be used for drilling so its attack range is very limited, and 10 is a bomb thrower." The fox rubbed his chin in thought before he grinned. "And I think I know just how to deal with them. Make no mistake Nikki, on this night, history will be made!"

Back on the ground, Bunnie put up her shield as a bomb detonated off of it. "You ok Sally?"

"I'm fine..."

"I'll keep ya covered. Just focus on gettin' that emerald." Another bomb bounced off the shield before Bunnie shot a blast at Lambda.

Sally sprinted towards the capsule. Bunnie did a great job keeping Lambda distracted, and Kappa was busy trying to drill holes into Antoine. Iota came in screaming from above, but Sally was prepared this time. Executing her movements carefully, she managed to avoid the bot's attack and made it to the capsule. However, unknown to her, the barriers surrounding it acted as motion sensors. Once tripped, the capsule closed around the emerald and two metallic claws came out to intercept the intruder.

Sally brought her wrist blades out and cut one of the claws as Rotor approached on his hover board. She cut the last one as he helped her up. "Sorry Sal but this mission's a bust. We'll have to-"

"Yes I know, retreat...everyone fall back to the Sky Patrol! Kor, I hope you're ready to lend a hand, cause we'll need it. Once the badniks are dealt with, _then_ we can-" A loud noise stopped Sally before she could finish her sentence.

The Freedom Fighters noticed the capsule containing the emerald take off like a rocket, heading towards an unknown location.

"Well...so much for the emerald..." Rotor grumbled.

Before the heroes could begin to fall back, they noticed 4 rock spires open up, revealing some sort of electrical generators. The 4 devices activated, creating a net that effectively confined the heroes to the area.

"No no no no! Ugh! Not this again!" Amy yelled.

"Well, at least this time we aren't being shocked." Sally noted.

"There's no way _two_ of us can get through." Rotor replied, noting the spacing in the net.

"Not two, but maybe one can! We'll lie on our stomachs. Bunnie and Tails, you two take flight. Antoine, get the spare board." The princess ordered.

"Sorry Sally, but we're an air board short, and we won't leave you behind!" Amy responded.

As the heroes continued to talk about how to get past the netting, they seemed to forget that one of the super badniks below could shoot bombs. Lambda shot a spray of bombs that at them. Most of them hit their mark, sending them spiraling to the sandy floor. Bunnie barely managed to avoid a direct hit, though she was blasted through the netting. Before she could attempt to help, she was forced to flee as Iota gave chase, firing plasma blasts and lasers with near perfect aim. Lambda and Kappa kept the rest cornered, and they were getting ready to deliver the killing blow.

 **-Minutes before the Freedom Fighters were trapped-**

Kor was in the armory getting a few of his weapons. His plan was to have Hornet deal with Iota while he would deal with Lambda. Kappa wasn't of much concern since it needed to get within melee range to strike, but Lambda and its bombs needed to be silenced. He grabbed his Mann Co. built minigun. One could mistake it for Natascha, another gun Heavy would carry when he wanted to deal with Scouts. However, this gun was slimmer and actually looked more like the XM196, but like all Mann Co. miniguns the belt cartridge was attached to the bottom of the gun. Still, it was considerably heavy.

He also grabbed a modified flamethrower that was only able to fire concentrated compressed air. Long story short, Kor accidentally broke the fuel pump for the weapon, so it couldn't spew any fire. The fire element was likely useless anyway as he was sure Eggman's E-100s were flame resistant. Lastly, he grabbed a couple needles from his personal medical storage.

As he ran to the hanger, Nicole appeared beside him. "Kor you need to hurry! An electrical net just appeared over both teams. They're trapped!"

"Trapped?...mmm...Nicole, Cream and Big to meet me in the hanger."

"Cream and Big? But Kor, you know what Sally said. They aren't trained yet."

"Well first time for everything! Cream's been wanting to get in on the action, well, she'll get her wish!" The fox said, finally arrived at the opened hanger. "Hornet, here's the plan. The others are trapped so we'll spring 'em loose first. Next, there's a flying E-100 unit out there I want you to get rid of. I know it'll be the first time you've fought an E-100, but I'm sure you'll do fine. Make me proud out there." The fox smiled.

"You wanted to see us Mr. Kor?" Cream asked as she and Big walked in.

Kor knelt down to Cream's level. "Cream, I know you're young and inexperienced, and under no other circumstances I would ask you to do this-and Sally would be mad at me-but I'm asking: will you help me aid the other Freedom Fighters?"

 **-Back Outside-**

Everyone was dazed after Lambda rudely reminded them of its presence. As they picked themselves up, Lambda was preparing to fire another salvo of bombs. However, just as it was about to press the trigger, it was interrupted when a series of explosions were heard. Everyone looked and saw that the net generators were being destroyed by missiles. Seconds later, Lambda had a hail of bullets raining upon it to its right. Turning, it saw Kor standing on another rock spire with his gun trained on it.

Angered, the robot fired a few bombs at him, but Kor switched from his gun to the air blaster. Once the munitions were close enough, he blasted compressed air at them, forcing them in random directions before they exploded. The bomb thrower used its arms to swing towards his position to get a closer shot, leaving Kappa to deal with the Freedom Fighters. The driller prepared to strike when suddenly Cheese appeared in front of it, taunting it by making funny faces. Irritated, Kappa swung at the chao, but the tiny creature proved to be a difficult target.

"Is everyone alright?" Cream asked as she landed.

"Yeah, for the most part." Sally replied. Everyone else was hurt, but doing ok. "Thanks for coming when you did Cream...wait a minute, did you come alone or-"

"No. Mr. Big is on his bike above us, and Mr. Kor is fighting another robot over there." The young rabbit explained.

Giving the team a headcount, Sally noticed something was wrong. "Where's Bunnie?"

A 1/4 mile from the others, Bunnie was still fleeing Iota as it continued to pursue her. The robot was relentless, constantly firing an unending barrage of plasma blasts. It didn't help that she was already battle damaged and tired. If something didn't happen soon, she'd be blown out of the sky. Luckily for her, Hornet had silently slipped in behind Iota. Seeing the large afterburners on its rear, the gunship decided to use its thermal tracker to lock up the badnik. However, it saw that it was also tracking Bunnie's thermal trail, and if it fired it ran the risk of hitting her.

Not wanting to commit fratricide, the bot decided to go for its gun. Even though it was a bit out of effective gun range, it fired a few bursts to get the robot to break its pursuit. It worked as Iota rolled and turned hard to the left, Hornet chasing after it. Bunnie stopped after noticing she wasn't being followed, and saw the dogfight occurring between the two. "Phew...thank goodness..."

Hornet fired a few heat seekers at the badnik, but since Iota was designed for air combat, it deployed flares to decoy the missiles. Even a few times it managed to dodge the missiles with some hard turns. Hornet was growing steadily frustrated. If it didn't think of something quick, it might end up making _itself_ the target. Stacked together, both Iota and Hornet were designed for some form of aerial combat. Iota had the advantage of raw speed, and its intense maneuverability could defeat any missile Hornet threw at it. But Hornet had the advantage in some areas as well. Since it could hover in mid-air, it could perform turns a plane like Iota couldn't do, and Hornet's combination of mixed weapons far outclassed those its rival carried.

Iota could actually outrun Hornet, but it'd still be within missile range, hence why it was engaging in a turning fight. Once Iota felt it had enough room, performed a barrel roll, dumping speed and forcing Hornet out in front of it. It began firing plasma blasts and lasers at the gunship, who threw itself all over the sky to shake its deadly shadow. It threw its shield up to defend against the hits that did connect, but it wouldn't last long. It needed to turn the tables fast or it would become a large metal paste on the ground.

With Kor, Lambda continued firing bombs, but this time at a much closer position. Kor reflected a few but was constantly being forced to change position so he didn't get blown to pieces. If he could manage to reflect one right at its face and stun it, he could go all out with his minigun and possibly destroy the badnik. After another minute of dodging and reflecting, his flamethrower was getting low on air, leaving only one more shot left. The fox finally got the opening he'd been looking for when Lambda shot a bomb just a little too high. Kor jumped and reflected it right back into the badnik's face.

Lambda stumbled as it was hit with its own weapon. Acting quickly, the fox dropped the now useless flamethrower and shot lead at the E-100 unit. Due to the close proximity, the bullets were able to penetrate the thick armor of the badnik. Seeing it was taking too much damage, the badnik used the rock formations to swing about, attempting to flee. However, Kor was having none of it. He lured it from the others to give them a fighting chance, and he wasn't about to waste it.

Taking one of the needles from his side pocket, one could see they contained the formula for Kritz. Injecting himself in the arm, Kor felt electricity running through him before it manifested into his gun, which by now was glowing red. He fired again, shooting electrically charged bullets at the escaping badnik. Before it could get far, several bullets penetrated its left arm like a buzz saw, severing it entirely. Lambda crashed to the floor, once again dazed but shocked it lost an appendage.

"Pffft HAH HAH HAH! You cannot run coward." Kor boasted as he drew closer.

Lambda turned and shot at him with its other arm and tail, but the fox quickly put up enough bullets to cause the bombs to detonate prematurely before shooting off its other arm and the launcher on its tail, making them useless. Lambda had a sad look in its eyes as it was now defenseless and immobile.

The engineer stopped in front of it with his gun still spinning. "The burning you feel? It is shame. Let this be lesson for you: You're ugly." He grinned before shredding what's left of Lambda. By this time the minigun stopped glowing red, and Lambda's corpse was now a hollow shell full of holes. It was leaking oil in various places and an electrical fire was beginning to start.

Bunnie made her way back to the area and found the rest of the heroes dealing with Kappa. The badnik was putting up a stiff defense but with their superior numbers the Freedom Fighters were winning. While Cheese kept it distracted, this allowed Big and Rotor to get close enough to grab each of its arms. Kappa tried to shake them off but they proved to be stronger than it expected. Antoine and Sally then ran up with their blades ready and sliced off its exposed arms. Tails went in and managed to cut the main body from its tread feet with his razor sharp namesakes, rendering it immobile.

Bunnie grinned as she charged up her hand. "Stand back y'all! I'm gonna blow this one away!" The rest back up enough before she fired a powerful blast, nailing Kappa directly in its chest and ending the life of this super badnik.

"You ok Bunnie?" Sally asked.

"Yeah. That flyin' badnik almost had me but Kor's pet got it off mah tail."

"Well, that's one badnik down, but what about the other two?" Tails asked.

"Lambda's dead as well." Kor shouted as he returned. He saw Kappa was offline as well. "Guess y'all just needed someone to get the heat off you."

Sally gave a genuine smile. "Thanks for the backup Kor. But there's still one E-100 unit left...if it ran off we should leave before it comes back..."

"Last I saw, Hornet was chasin' it out to the west." The cyborg pointed out.

"Well, it shouldn't take long for Hornet to-" Kor was cut off as an explosion filled the air.

Everyone looked around before noticing Iota coming right towards them. They prepared to attack but noticed the back of the badnik was engulfed in flames. Getting out of the way, the heroes watched as Iota went into a terminal spin before a deafening explosion resounded as the badnik crashed in a giant fireball, kicking up tons of sand into the air. Earlier, Hornet turned the tables by flipping over the super badnik and used its gun to damage it. After 20 seconds of chasing it, the gunship fired 500 rounds into the back of Iota, causing it to catch fire and lose thrust. As the fire spread, it lost control of its hydraulics and could do nothing more but crash.

Kor got the biggest grin on his face. "HORNET! YOU MADE ME VERY HAPPY!"

"Nice! That's all three! But...the emerald's gone." Rotor noted.

"Doesn't matter too much. We'll find it again, but right now..." Sally gave everyone a once over and noted that most were sporting bruises. Theire fur was also messy in a few areas along with a dash of fatigue thrown in. Even the princess herself was feeling exhausted. "We all need to get patched up..."

 **-Meanwhile: Death Egg-**

To say Eggman was fuming would be an understatement of the century. His plan was perfect. He calculated everything. He took the appropriate steps to ensure his victory. He even had them cornered and on the verge of defeat! But then it all went wrong, and Sonic wasn't even present! He watched as it fell apart piece by piece. First, his net trap was destroyed, then Lambda went off chasing an unknown on the radar scope, and lastly another unknown had popped up behind Iota and forced it away from Bunnie. Whoever those unknowns were would pay for ruining his plans.

Checking the footage from hidden cameras, Eggman saw Lambda was chasing what appeared to be a mobian. It was out of camera range, but minutes later Lambda registered as being offline. He panned over to the object chasing Iota, and saw what looked like an advanced buzz bomber firing bullets at it. The doctor squinted his eyes as he zoomed in for a better view. "Hmm...why does that robot look familiar?...wait a second!"

Exiting the radar, Eggman pulled up his E-100 blueprints, looking through each of them. He skipped over Gamma as he knew what happened to him, and he wouldn't bother with Omega. He was still angry that his best E-100 badnik betrayed him. The doctor stopped when he noticed there was a gap between the file for E-116 and E-118. E-117's file was missing. The doctor gripped his chair in anger.

"Don't worry boss. We all can't be winners. After all, we still have the chaos emerald." Orbot pointed out, hoping to dispel some of his anger.

"It's not the emerald I'm angry about you dolt! Do you see what's on the screen?!"

Cubot looked but just shrugged. "A missing file? Did you misplace it or something?"

"No you idiot! Almost a year ago I've been getting reports of _my_ personnel going missing along with spotty reports of my bases being raided, and worst of it was that famous incident in Midesta when that bird brain Nephthys informed me they lost several tons of supplies and vehicles! At first I thought it was those pesky Freedom Fighters, but even they couldn't match that level of destruction! My next thought was G.U.N., but they weren't in the area at the time. I had no clue who it was but disregarded it as Sonic started to step up his game, and so had I. I remember at one point there was a hacking intrusion but couldn't find the source, but now I know what they took! THEY STOLE ONE OF MY E-100 FILES!" He slammed his fist on the console in anger.

Eggman then opened up some footage from Lambda just before it went offline. He saw a red fox approach the robot, say some choice words before he shot it to pieces. "Whoever he is, he just made my hit list...I may have ignored this threat in the past, but if he's with Sonic they'll be a bigger than I anticipated. By now, Tails Doll should be on station, listening to their every move...but I'm gonna need something more, something to go around and steal any information that'll be useful..." The doctor grinned evilly as he began to formulate a plan. "And I know just how to do that."

 **A/N: Welp, you've just read it folks. Eggman may have lured the heroes into another trap, but he paid the price for thinking it would work a second time. Never do repeat performances.**


	7. Chaotic Fights Pt 1

**A/N: Welcome to another chapter of my second story! As you've seen last chapter, the Freedom Fighters had locate yet another chaos emerald. However, they got more than they bargained for in the form of 3 E-100 units. Thankfully, Eggman paid the price for thinking he could trick the heroes with the same tactic. Now, all they need to do is find out where the Blue emerald was shipped, but they'll get sidetracked...**

 **Disclaimer: All characters belong to Sega and Archie except my OC and its affiliates.**

After their somewhat successful heist on the emerald, everyone was in the Sky Patrol's infirmary. All of them, besides Big and Cream, suffered some bruising at best and singed fur and slight scarring from explosive damage at worst, though Sally may have suffered the worst from having caught a little shrapnel from the bombs thrown at her. Right now, Rotor was carefully picking the pieces out with a tweezer. The only people that weren't in the room were Tails and Kor. Sonic had called earlier and felt he was ready to return, having mastered his transformation. As such, Tails took the Tornado to pick him up. Kor went to the armory as he claimed he had something that would help everyone.

When the two brothers returned, Sonic could already tell something happened based on how ruffled Tails' fur was. "Geez Tails...you said you guys were intact, but how much glue did it take?"

"Yer sympathy is astoundin' Sug..." Bunnie said tiredly.

"What happened?"

"Eggman-ow!" Sally yelped as another piece was pulled. "Sorry." Rotor responded. "The emerald was bait. Eggman ambushed us with _three_ E-100 units..."

"THREE?!" Sonic exclaimed before sighing in frustration. "I should've been there..."

"You were ill, my friend. You needed help." Antoine pointed out.

"No 'Twan. I knew I was sick for a while and if I'd taken care of things sooner-" Sonic retorted.

"You'd run the risk of dying, same as the rest of us." Sally stated, slowly getting off the bed. She had bandages over where the shrapnel was pulled. "But what's worse, is that our information from Eggman's database is worthless now...we'll no longer have an edge."

True Blue shook his head. "No, _I'm_ your edge, and I'm back. Have we ever needed more than that in the past?"

Sally took a moment to think. "...No?"

"Exactly. So Eggman got a win today, and the score is like, what? 1 to 100?"

Tails chuckled. "You've been keeping score?"

"Point is, we're a team, the _best_ team on this jigsaw of a planet! And together, we'll make sure Eggman won't hold onto that emerald for long." Sonic boasted, raising the spirits of his comrades.

"And to reiterate, Eggman technically didn't get a full win." Kor said as he walked in the room, carrying an odd-looking contraption.

"How so?" Sonic asked.

"While Eggman did send 3 E-100 units to kill us, he won't be getting them back though." The engineer chuckled. "You guys took Kappa down, I shot Lambda to pieces after luring it away, and Iota was shot down by Hornet. I'm still giddy after watching mah gunship finally accomplish what I built it to do!" He smiled widely.

Bunnie gave a light chuckle. "Heh heh, ok settle down there gunslinger. But thank Hornet for me fer gettin' that flyin' feller off mah tail."

"What's that you're holding Kor?" Rotor asked.

"Oh, this is supposed to help ease the pain on you guys. In my world it's called the Quick Fix, heals ya real fast. It don't hurt or nothin', and it sure helps me when I'm exposed to explosives." The red fox switched the machine on before he used it on the heroes. Kor repeatedly flipped the lever as he trained the beam on everyone.

They each felt a wave of warmth wash over them, which helped them feel as if they got some much needed relaxation. Antoine felt good enough to the point he checked the wounds that were bandaged up, only to see there was just some scarring now. "Incroyable!

"If you had a healing device like this the whole time, why didn't you bring it up sooner?" The walrus asked.

"Because this thing is _highly_ effective at healing almost anything, including robots when set properly. And that goes double for the stronger mediguns. I like to keep it hidden so no one _unfavorable_ finds out about it, same with mah dispensers. Just imagine what Eggman could do if he got his hands on this kind of stuff." Kor explained.

"I'd hate to picture it...so Sonic, did you get the help you needed?" Amy asked.

"Yeah. I'm still changing at night, but I'm more than ready to get back in the game. I won't leave you guys hangin' again." The Blue Blur boasted.

"That's good to hear. Speaking of which, is there something on my back? I feel something back there but can't reach it..." Kor said, scratching his backside.

"Hold on, let me see." Rotor said, taking a look. He didn't see anything so it was likely under Kor's fur. Parting it, he found a jagged piece of rock stuck in there. "Woah. There's a piece of earth in your back, and it looks like it's in there pretty deep. Did it hurt?"

"No. Probably happened when one of Lambda's bombs exploded near me when I was running from it. You don't exactly notice things like that when someone's chucking explosives at your face..."

"Well, I'm gonna need some plyers..." The captain stated, opening a nearby drawer.

"Hey Nicole, you got any leads about where another emerald might be?" Sonic asked.

"Actually, I was just about to bring it up." The holo-lynx smiled as she summoned a poster.

The poster read, "Casino Park Arena: Chaos Emerald championship", with a picture of the green emerald at the bottom. Apparently it's being hosted in a fighting tournament as the main prize for whoever is the last person standing in the ring over a series of matches. What surprised the heroes, was who was hosting it.

Sally groaned. "Oh no..."

" _Breezie_ has an emerald?" Sonic exclaimed.

"Wait, what? OWW!" Kor yelped as Rotor pulled the rock from his back.

"You're lucky it just hit muscle, cause it was really close to your spine."

"Thanks...so Sonic, you have a history with her?" Kor asked as he used the Quick Fix on himself.

"It's a long story..." Sonic said sheepishly.

"Well we'll talk about it in the briefing room. I'm gonna have to make a call." Sally said as she walked out.

The others shrugged before making their way toward the room. Once they got there, Sally was already on the phone.

"Really? You couldn't just...ugh, fine, deal..." She hung up.

"So how'd it go." Bunnie asked.

"Breezie is so infuriating! How did you even meet her Sonic?" An irate Sally asked.

Sonic kicked his feet on the table. "Welp, it was years ago when I tangled with Eggman's 'Super Special' Sonic Search and Smash Squad. I was still a kid back then but those guys were such jokers. Anyway, Breezie faked being kidnapped so she could lure me into several traps. Even fought Silver Sonic at the time, still won, but that's how I met her."

"It still makes me mad she was working with Eggman from the beginning..." Tails grumbled.

"And why are we just hearing about this _now?_ " Amy asked in irritation.

"Oh relax, it was _years_ ago. Sides, I haven't told everyone _all_ of my adventures, especially not the ones that go..." Sonic made a funny face as he did a fake accent. "Hey guys! Wanna hear about the time I got played for a chump?!"

Everyone shared a laugh about that. "I think I would like to here zose stories." Antoine grinned.

Sally gave a heartfelt laugh. "Heh heh, maybe later. Anyway, Breezie's come a long way from being a double-agent, especially since she runs _Breeze Media_ , the largest media network on the planet. What I can't understand is why she's hosting a fighting tournament for the chaos emerald."

"Easy. She's bringing in money, and so people are distracted from the fact the planet is in pieces." Kor piped up.

"How do you know that?" Rotor asked.

"Remember a week ago when I told you guys I got bit by those Dark Gaia things? That job I was doing was escorting her back to her main hub in Casino Park. Main reason for that was due to the fact her security forces weren't prepared for the monsters since it was the first time they appeared. She owes me a favor now due to that."

"And you didn't zhink that would've been useful til now?" Antoine asked, a bit annoyed.

"Well, I didn't expect her to get her hands on an emerald, plus I doubt she'll just give it us."

"Right...that would explain why you're on the roster." Sally told him.

"Huh?!" The red fox asked, clearly shocked.

"I was talking with Breezie to see if I could get all of us spots on the roster, but she would only take you, Sonic, Tails, and Amy, and the registration deadline already passed."

Rotor grumbled. "Isn't she connected to a ton of shady business?"

"Yeah. She does business with Eggman since she uses many of his outdated badniks as employees." Kor informed him.

"So why can't we just _take_ the emerald? We're trying to save the world here."

"Hmm, I do enjoy a more direct route..." Sonic said thoughtfully.

"Because we don't do that! Breezie isn't like Eggman, and it'd look like we'd be stealing from her." Amy retorted.

"Again, _saving_ _the world_?" Rotor fired back.

"As much as I'd be up for just taking it, Breezie's security at Casino Park is top of the line, and I ain't lookin' to tangle with that..." Kor admitted.

Sally decided to end it before things got heated. "Ok ok settle down guys. Amy's right, the world looks to use for hope, especially now. If we act like we're above the law, we're only creating trouble for ourselves later on."

"I'm always thinking about that..." Kor said uneasily.

"Regardless of whether Breezie is a criminal kingpin or a legit business woman, I did offer to buy the emerald. She wouldn't sell it."

Sonic gave a small laugh. "Is your dad cool with using the kingdom's treasury to bankroll us?"

"Well, daddy is a bit...pragmatic." Nicole gave a smirk at that. "Anyway! The tournament starts tomorrow. Good luck guys."

"Welp, guess we better get down there then." Kor said as he got out of his seat.

"Hmm...Breezie advertised this event everywhere right? We might be playing by the rules, but what's stopping Eggman from just _invading_ Casino Park?"

"Well, considering Eggman's forces are too divided to do much outside of there own regions, Breezie's sass and forward thinking, and the fact Casino Park has tight security, Eggman isn't capable of doing such a thing. But it's possible he could steal the emerald." Kor explained.

"And how do you know that?" Tails asked.

The older fox shrugged. "Breezie told me. Anyway, what are we taking to get there? There isn't a landing strip at that money trap, and I don't want to have Hornet fly us."

The kit smirked. "Don't worry, I got that covered."

"You sure seem to know a lot about Breezie." Sonic smirked.

"If you're implying I have a thing for her, you're dead wrong. It's just from when we last conducted business."

The blue hedgehog just laughed. "That can mean _a lot_ of things."

Kor started to blush when he realized that. "Oh shut up! I'm gonna get a few things before we leave..." He stormed off in irritation.

 **-On the Death Egg-**

Eggman slouched in his chair with an irritated look as he stared at the screen in front of him, which had the symbol that meant 'call ended'. He just got off the line with Breezie after having a 'nice' discussion. By nice, I mean he threatened to blow her entire network and casino out of existence. Instead, Breezie just laughed it off knowing how thin his forces are currently before hanging up.

He growled before hitting the call button again, this time calling a certain team of misfits. "Yo. We just got to off the exit ramp. We'll be there in-" Nack replied before the doctor cut him off.

"Whatever, shut up and listen! Breezie thinks I'll play by _her_ rules, but she's forgetting _I'm_ running the show here! If you screw up in the tournament, disable the park's defenses!"

"Thanks for the confidence." The weasel replied sarcastically. "Alright, we _can_ do that, but that's another job that requires _some_ investment. After all, we're grabbing the emerald for you for _free_." He gave a toothy grin.

"You money-grubbing little...fine! But DO NOT fail me!" Eggman practically punched the 'end call' button. "I hate dealing with these idiots! I'll take a good robot any day over them..." He then called Metal Sonic.

The Metal doppelganger was in Apotos, holding an old man hostage. It seemed he had information he needed, but the man continued to feign innocence. Metal was about to stab the man when Eggman called him. Rolling its eyes at the interruption, he answered. "I have a target of interest concerning the Gaia Temples."

"Never mind that! I'm sending some coordinates! Get over there, NOW!" The doctor screamed.

A bit irate, but knowing better than to question its master, Metal Sonic dropped the man and took off. The old man breathed a sigh of relief before getting up with a determined look on his face. The Gaia Temples needed to be protected at all costs, especially if Eggman wanted them.

 **-Casino Park: Hours later-**

Tails and Rotor spend a few hours finishing up on a suitable transport for the heroes that were to take part in the fighting tournament. Once finished, they had built a nice looking car that could also convert into a plane (similar to the car Sonic used in Sega All-star Racing). It took roughly another hour of flying before the group reached the main entrance to Casino Park. As the pulled up, there was already a crowd waiting for them, and standing at the door was none other than the CEO of Breeze Media herself.

Sonic couldn't help but grin. "Alright guys, show time!"

"Easy for you to say. I don't like having dozens of cameras flashing at my face..." Kor bemoaned as he squinted his eyes a bit.

Tails glared at an Egg Pawn that acted as the valet as he handed it the car keys. "Not a _single_ scratch! I just built it!"

The robot shook its head before it took the car to the parking garage. The kit continued to glare until it was out of site before he joined the others.

"Well well well, if it isn't the stars of the show!" Breezie greeted.

"Been a long time Breezie. Seems you're doing well for yourself." Sonic said with charisma.

"You as well, Mr. World-Wide Hero. And if it isn't my personal Knight in Shining Armor!"

"Hah, you wish. Still, that was a generous sum you gave me." Kor replied.

"True, but I feel as if that wasn't enough. After all, you did _actually_ save my life." Breezie said before popping a soft kiss on Kor's cheek, causing several more cameras to flash. The fox's face went red either from blushing or embarrassment. Sonic and Amy couldn't tell but it seemed to be the latter as Kor sighed in annoyance.

"Um, didn't she try to get you and Tails killed once?" Amy reminded Sonic.

"Yeah, but she's a _classy_ lady. Fight fire with fire right?" Sonic replied.

" _Fight?_ You've done nothing but help actually. Paid programming ordered have _trippled_ since it was announced you 4 would be contending!" Breezie said with joy as they walked into the main lobby. "Anyway, in order to accommodate your stay, you have full access to all facilities, unlimited trips to the buffet and so on. There's also a stack of chips for each of you on the counter. Don't worry, it's on the house."

"Eh, I'm not much of a gambler." Kor declined.

"Aw what's the matter Kory? Not confident enough to make a bet?" Breezie teased.

The engineer glared at the CEO. "Ok first off, don't call me 'Kory' or I'll actually hurt you. Second, I don't make bets on things I'm likely to lose..."

The green hedgehog pretended to be hurt. "Aww Kory, you hurt my feelings."

"Whatever. Is there a catch to all of this?"

"Naturally. Once things get started, there's to be no fighting outside of the ring-save it for the cameras. You can't help your buddies in the ring, and lastly, show up in time for your matches." Breezie looked at Sonic. "Did you get all of that or was I too fast for you?"

The Blue Blur smirked. "Nah, one rule of my own: don't schedule me at night."

"Oh ho ho! Unfortunately for you Sonic, you don't make the rules. _I_ do, and you're prime time all the way."

Sonic shrugged. "Welp, guess I'm out then. I know these 3 can handle things without me. Later!" He started walked towards the exit.

Though she didn't want to show it, Breezie grew pissed. You could see it in her eyes despite the fact she kept her smile. It wasn't the fact Sonic denied her request, it's moreso that she didn't like having to abide by someone else's rules. If Sonic left, ratings would surely drop and that also meant less money would be made. "Wait! Daytime it is!"

Sonic turned with a confident smirk. "Pleasure doing business with you Breezie." He said before he and the rest of his friends walked off.

"Don't forget Sonic: if you try to beat the house, the house beats _you_..." She muttered under her breath before walking to who knows where.

Kor chuckled inwardly. "Heh, someone's mad."

"If looks could kill." Tails agreed, trying to keep his own set of giggles down.

"Seriously. I'd feel bad if she wasn't profiting from all of this. Thanks for making sure she didn't knife me in the back Amy." Sonic told her, though he didn't get an immediate response. Looking around, both Sonic and Tails lost sight of her.

"Where'd she go?" Tails asked.

"Over there talking with who I think is Honey the Cat, though I'm actually surprised she's here." Kor pointed out.

Indeed, Amy was talking with the famous fashion diva. One could see that Honey's outfit was much like Amy's except it had additional frills attached to the skirt along with a black stripe in the middle. You could assume that this is the person where Amy gets her clothing from, especially when they both said "Cause if you don't look sweet, you're not wearing Honey!"

Sonic chuckled. "What's terrifying is that I know they didn't rehearse that."

"Tell me about it." Kor agreed.

Honey looked over Amy's outfit. "Hmm...this is from my old 'Dream Casters' line."

The pink hedgehog nodded. "Yep! I love it! I practically wear nothing else!"

"Someone needs to be more diverse." Kor muttered to the two boys, and all of them shared a laugh.

"So, what's a fashion diva like you doing here?" Sonic asked.

"I'm competing!" Honey announced. "It's all about self-promotion, and the events don't any bigger than this! What about you 4?"

"We're here for the emerald. We need it in order to put world back in order." Kor explained.

"Hmm, is that a fact? Well, like I said, I'm just here to advertise. If I win, I'll hand over the gem to you guys. Deal?" She extended her hand.

"Deal!" Tails shook it.

"And in return, the Freedom Fighters will help promote my next line, riiiiiiiiight?" Honey added as she adorned a smug smile, which creeped out the kit.

"Um...I only wear shoes, socks, and gloves."

"You can _accessorize."_

Kor chuckled at the scene. Like Tails, he also wore much of the same, though in his earlier days he used to wear a shirt and pants before it became uncomfortable due to his thick fur (and after he realized he had enough fur that completely covered his junk unless he was in heat). Grabbing a bottle of beer off a tray a badnik was carrying, he took a sip while looking around. Chances are they'd see whoever else was competing, but what he didn't expect was meeting someone he didn't think he'd ever again.

About 30 feet from him was a pink echidna with a tuft of purple hair that sat at the top of her head. Some of her dreadlocks were adorned with several metallic rings, though one of them was entirely cybernetic. She also wore a green jacket with a black shirt underneath that showed her midriff, with black shorts to match and green boots. For anyone who can remember, this echidna, was Julie-Su.

Kor happened to catch sight of the pink echidna right as she looked in his direction, nearly spitting out his drink. The echidna immediately had an angry look on her face once she recognized the fox. "What are you doing here?!"

"I could ask you the same thing Julie...but if you must know, I'm here for the emerald." Kor growled.

"Right, and what would an idiot like you want with a powerful gem? Need it for one of your toys?" She taunted.

"No, dingas. I need it so Sonic and the others can fix the world with it!" He retorted.

"I hardly believe that from someone who prefers the company of machines than living people."

"It was under a series of circumstances!"

As the two got kept going further into their argument, they were approaching the point of thrashing one another. Sonic, Amy, Tails, and Honey all noticed, and naturally Sonic was the first to act.

"Woah woah woah time out here! What's with the shouting contest?" He asked.

"Just having a _nice_ conversation with this 'lady'." Kor answered.

"Very funny. You aren't much of a 'gentleman' either pal!" Julie-Su retorted, clenching her fist.

"Um, Kor? Remember what Breezie said. You could get disqualified if you start fighting before the tournament starts." Tails noted.

"Is that a fact? Well then, I can't wait to cave your face in once we're in the ring." The echidna replied with a sinister look.

"Oh please. I'd crush you..." Kor fired back with venom in his voice. As if to prove his point, he unconsciously ended up crushing the bottle he was holding, not even caring at the fact he had some glass stuck in his hand. The two stared angrily at each other before Julie-Su walked off.

"So Kor, who was your 'friend' just now?" Honey asked.

The fox sighed and started pulling glass from his hand. "That...was Julie-Su...my ex-girlfriend..." The others were shocked upon learning this.

"I thought she looked familiar...last time I saw Julie-Su was on Angel Island when Knuckles was involved with that whole 'Brotherhood' deal. I thought she was sent back to the Twilight Zone..." Sonic said in thought.

"How did you two get together? I never expected that to happen..." Amy asked.

"Long story, and something I'd like to not discuss..." Kor said as he pulled the last piece from his hand.

"Well buddy, this is likely going to be eating at you until you do fess up, so spill." Sonic pointed out.

"Fine...we met somewhere in Eurish during the latter part of my first year on this planet. At the time I was doing a job to gather some intel on the main Egg Army base in the region so G.U.N. could plan an assault. However, _she_ was also hired to do the same thing. She ended up getting paid whilst I didn't, so I was pissed about that. This turned us both into rivals competing for cash, though there was one job that both of us couldn't do alone. At the time Hornet's blueprints hadn't been drawn yet, and Terry wouldn't do given this was an interior job, so _I_ asked her for help. Julie was hesitant at first, but she agreed. Let me tell you, she sure knows how to fight and she's an excellent sharpshooter, could give Nack a run for his money.

After that job, we split the reward, didn't see each other much but found we actually made a pretty good team. I provided the heavy firepower while she was more precise with her shots. Over time we grew closer and actually became an item...then about 6 months later we got into a massive fight about our previous mission as a couple things went wrong. To be honest, we would've killed each other had we not gotten another job right then. After that was done, we decided not to speak or see each other again..."

"Harsh dude..." Was all Sonic could say.

"Why didn't you guys just end the argument by admitting fault?" Amy asked.

"Well, cause I'm as stubborn as a mule and she's about as hotheaded as Knuckles." Kor admitted. "So I guess it was a matter of time before it officially ended. But since then, I've developed my reasoning skills better and became a bit less stubborn."

"Do you believe you two might've still been together if you guys didn't get into that argument?" Tails asked.

"Maybe, who knows. Probably could've taken the time to get to know each other better and develop a better sense of infatuation...but that time has passed, especially since she wants to turn my face into a sinkhole." The fox frowned.

Sonic decided to look at the positive side of this. "Well Kor, sorry you ran into an old flame of yours, but you can handle her right? Know how she fights?"

"Yeah, though she likely picked up a few moves since I last saw her. But, so have I." He grinned.

Unknown to the heroes, the Hooligans had spotted them. Bean, knowing they wouldn't stand a chance against the Freedom Fighters, tried to call Eggman to say they would move straight to Plan B. However, Nack told him to keep quiet in order to preserve their pride, which Bean questioned if they had such a thing. Unbeknownst to this group, Espio was silently watching from behind. He, like the rest of the Chaotix, were still bitter about their last confrontation, so the chameleon immediately went to a nearby pay phone.

"Vector, it's me. This is my first report, but it'll be brief, I only have enough change for 60 seconds."

"What?! I gave you $5, what happened to that?!" The crocodile shouted into the phone.

Espio face-palemed. "...I'm pretty sure the slots here are rigged..."

"Tell me about it...anyway, whatcha got?"

"Both the Hooligans and Freedom Fighters are here and will be taking part. I'll do what I can to help the latter, but since I didn't know they'd arrive, I took some extra measures to ensure the emerald falls into the proper hands."

"Like what?"

"You'll see on the TV." Espio stated before hanging up.

Elsewhere in the casino, Knuckles was looking around searching for pieces of the Master Emerald. The reason for this was due to a Black Arms alien known as Eclipse the Darkling having landed on Angel Island. The alien was originally on another Black Comet that was headed for Mobius, but Team Dark and G.U.N. saw to it that it would never reach its destination **(A/N: Not to be confused with the game Shadow the Hedgehog)**. However, Eclipse escaped and had plans to use the Master Emerald in order to gain more power. Under a set of unfortunate circumstances, Knuckles had to do the one thing he wished he didn't have to do: shatter the powerful gem.

Luckily, with the planet's crust still floating freely the island remained afloat, but if the Master Emerald wasn't restored before the planet was fixed, it'd fall to the earth, much like it had when Chaos was released almost a year ago. Which brings us to now, as the echidna sensed its presence nearby. He wasn't alone either. Flying around, adoring all the lights and festivities, was a small marooned creature known as Chip. While he couldn't remember it himself, Chip is actually known as Light Gaia, the polar opposite of the deity whose energy is running amok on the planet.

"Wow! I don't think I'd ever get tired of this place! The lights, the sounds, the smells! That sign even said "All you can eat buffet." Do they really mean it? Oh wait...I'm suppose to be helping you look for the missing shards...sorry Knuckles..."

"Relax. You leave the treasure hunting to me, and I can sense chaos energy in here somewhere..."

"You sure it's not from the chaos emerald?" Chip asked.

"No. It's definitely from the Master Emerald, and I think I know where it is." Knuckles said, looking towards a fancy eatery. However, he looked the opposite direction to do a double take. He could've been wrong, but he could've sworn he saw a pink echidna.

 **A/N: And I'll pause it here to leave the fighting for the next chapter. So now it's clear the heroes need to take part in a fighting tournament to win the emerald, especially from those who want to misuse it. Also, I finally revealed that a certain fan favorite echidna is also taking part in this story. It really sucks that this stupid Penders Lawsuit prevented Julie-Su from being in the new continuity, so why not do her some justice? It would also comfort Knuckles knowing he isn't the only echidna running around on Mobius.**

 **I should also mention that since Julie-Su is from the Nocturnus in this continuity, the only part of her that's cybernetic is her one dreadlock. Before the reboot, her left arm was also cybernetic, but in this one, I decided to have her completely organic.**


	8. Chaotic Fights Pt 2

**A/N: Welcome to chapter 8 ladies and gents. Last chapter, you saw what the heroes needed to do in order to obtain another emerald, but that's not all. It was also revealed that a certain fan favorite echidna survived the Genesis Wave crisis, and was also a past fling of Kor's. You saw how heated their 'talk' was, and now you'll see them resolve their issues in the ring. Bones WILL be broken.**

 **On that note, a few people have asked when Kor and Nicole will rekindle their romance. While I can't give you any spoilers, all I will say is,** ** _soon_** **. However, I'll give you a sneak peak this chapter that I'm sure you'll find hilarious.**

 **Disclaimer: All characters belong to Sega and Archie except my OC. Unfortunately, Julie-Su belongs to Penders...**

At exactly 6 p.m. local time, the fighting tournament was in full swing, and boy was it different from typical matches. Unlike most fighting arenas, this one changes with every match, bringing in a random environment that was a close representation to any real life location. The first match was Sonic against a human who knew some form of kung fu. The infamous hero easily won that match, then quickly jetted to his room as the sun was about to set. He managed to make it there right before turning into his werehog form. Next up, Amy took on a boar, which was rather one-sided. She's got a hammer remember?

A few minutes after that, the 3rd match was Tails vs. Honey, which was currently taking place on a simulated raging rapids environment.

"Welp, here we go! Good luck!" Honey said as she shook the kit's hand.

"Heh...I'm not exactly much of a show-man. I'm just here to help save the world and all." He said nervously.

"True, but you need to give the audience a show." The golden cat grinned, before she tightened her grip and delivered a swift kick to the fox's stomach. Tails gasped as the wind was knocked out of him.

"Yeesh, thought she might do that." Kor stated.

"What do you mean?" Amy asked. Both were sitting amongst the audience.

"Honey is actually a skilled fighter, more than she would actually let on."

Honey tried to deliver a flying kick to Tails' face, but the kit ducked before responding with a tail spin. Honey brought her hands up to her face to defend herself, only stopping to see the fox speeding towards her with a spin dash. She vaulted over him as Tails smacked into the barrier. Angered, he took flight before speeding towards the fashion diva with the intent of ramming her. Honey prepared for another attack, a smirk adorning her face as she formulated a plan.

"Rogue Wave!" She shouted as she pointed in the opposite direction.

Instinctively, Tails looked to see where the threat might be coming from, which Honey took full advantage of. When the kit turned, she moved to his flanks so quick that you could see a brief illusion of her, confusing the young fox. It was over when Honey decked him out of the ring.

"Oooh...that's gonna hurt his pride..." Amy noted.

Kor was pinching the bridge between his eyes in annoyance. "Really? He can build a freaking _plane_ , yet he falls for that ol' trick?..."

"Hey! I thought you were on our side!" Tails yelled at the cat.

"I am. I said before, if I win, the emerald is yours, but you have to remember, this is a _tournament_. We're supposed to fight remember?"

"Well I'm not...you took me out in the _first_ round, and you cheated!" The kit retorted, clearly embarrassed and irate.

"All's fair in love and war, and business is a bit of both." Honey pointed out. "Besides, I'll make amends, and I know just the look for you." She smiled, though Tails didn't share her sentiments.

 **-Sky Patrol-**

The rest of the Freedom Fighters were watching the event in the rec room, happy that some of their friends were progressing. However, when it came time for Tails to fight, things got a bit interesting. Cream was worried sick about Tails, which Bunnie, Rotor, and Nicole smiled about as they found it cute. However, when Tails lost, the young rabbit screamed bloody murder, scaring the rest of her comrades. Antoine, who was holding a bowl of popcorn, jumped so much the bowl landed on Big's head. The only person who wasn't surprised was Bunnie as she kept her smile.

"How could she do that?! Is that even legal?!" Cream yelled.

"Heh heh. Calm down a bit there Cream. Tails might have lost, but there's still Sonic, Amy, and Kor in the roster. Wanna help me cheer them on when they go up again?" Bunnie asked.

The young rabbit composed herself before nodding. "Ok..."

"Ok, we're going to take a short break here folks! Don't change that channel though, the tournament is just beginning!" A female announcer stated.

"Well, in zat case, I'm going to make some more popcorn." The swordsman got up from the couch and went into the small kitchen. Big took the bowl off his head and started eating whatever kernels were left in it.

Nicole leaned on the sofa in thought. This didn't go unnoticed by Sally. "Something on your mind?"

"I know how Sonic and Amy fight, but what about Kor? He doesn't seem to be the type to use physical combat...he's more of a ranged fighter or use numerical odds from what I remember..."

"Well, he has changed since then. He may actually prove to be a match for anyone he faces, though if it's against Sonic or perhaps Amy...well..." The chipmunk struggled to find the right words.

"Well, he could match Amy with strategy, but Sonic's too fast for him." Rotor noted. "And I'm sure he already knows that."

"Welcome back fellow viewers! It's time for our 4th match in the lineup. A certain red fox known for leading a team of destructive robots, Kor Royce, going against a pink echidna with a nack for close quarters, Julie-Su!"

Everyone besides Cream was surprised to hear the former Nocturnus member. Like most, they thought she was sent back to the Twilight Cage, until they recalled their memories of the old universe. While it was great to see their old friend, the heroes noticed something on the looks of both Kor and Julie as they stared each other down in the ring: pure rage.

"Oui, if looks could kill..." Antoine stated.

"Think they had a beef with each other Sal?" Bunnie asked.

"Not sure...Kor didn't mention having run into Julie-Su when he spoke about his past..." Sally said in thought. "Any clues Nicole?"

"No, but we may find out soon enough..." The A.I. replied.

 **-Casino Park Arena-**

Kor was pissed at this turn of events. He didn't expect to have to fight Julie-Su this early in the tournament. He was sure he would fight someone else, but then he assumed Breezie must've heard their conversation earlier and pitted them against each other for the sake of ratings.

"That conniving bitch..." The fox muttered.

"Any last words before I bust your windpipe?" The echidna mocked, cracking her knuckles.

"Two: Fuck. You." The f-word was censored on TV for obvious reasons. Looking around, their ring was based on desert terrain, so Kor figured could use that to his advantage, especially since Julie was more accustomed to close combat than he was. What he didn't know, was that they both had the same idea.

As soon as the bell rang, the two immediately went at it. Kor jumped at Julie with a flying punch, which she side stepped and did a low sweep and knocked him off his feet. The fox responded by kicking her in the heels which threw her off balance before he performed a drop kick to her chest. Tumbling back several feet, the echidna groaned in pain but opened her eyes when a shadow was over her. She rolled out of the way as Kor's fist impacted the sand where her head was. Thinking quickly, she kicked up some sand to temporarily blind him, before she grabbed his shoulders and kneed him in the stomach before tossing him over her head, showing she did have some strength.

Julie-Su then came at him with a flying kick, but the fox grabbed her leg before throwing her into a nearby rock formation. Pain shot through her back as she started getting up, but before she could right herself, Kor grabbed grabbed the echidna by her dreads and threw her onto her back in the sand. Straddling her, he delivered 3 harsh blows to her face. The last hit forced her to look right, which she noticed a cactus stub. Quickly grabbing it, Julie-Su whacked Kor in the face. The engineer cringed from getting hit with tiny cactus needles before Julie-Su kicked him off. The echidna felt her face, taking note of the blood coming from nose and realized the fox broke it.

"You dirty little..." He growled as he picked a needle off his nose.

"Don't know you're not supposed to do it on the first date?" She mocked, repositioning the cactus in her hand.

"In your case it wasn't on the first date..." Kor chuckled.

Angered, Julie threw the cactus at Kor's face. He caught it but it was just a distraction. She kicked it out of his hand before doing a force palm on his chest, knocking the wind out of him. She then kicked him hard in the mouth, causing him to spin around and nearly collapse before she grabbed him by the tail. The echidna spun him a few times before he was thrown into a fully grown cactus.

Tails winced. "Wow, those two are really going at it."

Amy nodded. "Kor's gonna get creamed...he hits hard, but he isn't landing that many hits before Julie-Su can fight back..."

Sonic, who was still in his room in his werehog form, cringed a bit. "That's gotta hurt."

Kor growled to himself. It's a good thing that the amount of pain he went through during his mercenary days gave him a decent amount of endurance, but he wouldn't last long against Julie-Su unless he managed to catch her off guard. He felt something loose in his mouth before spitting out two of his teeth. Now more pissed than ever, he shook the cactus and noticed it came a bit loose when he hit it.

Julie believed Kor was at his wits end and decided to end it. One swift kick to the head should put him out. "Face it Kor. You could never beat me in hand to hand. You didn't back then, and you won't today. You _might_ win in a gun fight, but up close, you're weak."

What surprised her, was that Kor just laughed. "I might not be the best at close combat, but I AM smarter than you. And you, _sweetie_ , are a cactus-eating shrew." Was all he said before literally picking up the cactus and batting her like a baseball.

The echidna was thrown back several feet, needles covering much of the front of her body. She held her left eye as a needle pierced it. She barely managed to dodge to the left as Kor threw the desert plant at her, but she couldn't avoid Kor's tackle. Rolling in a melee brawl, they punched, kicked, and even bit each other until impacted a rather unstable rock formation at one end of the ring. They stopped when they noticed an avalanche of earth heading right towards them.

"Oh hell..." They cringed before being buried.

Everyone present and even those viewing on TV were shocked. A few Egg Pawns quickly ran to the scene to uncover the two combatants. Once finished, they found both of them unconscious, but alive.

"Well, that was an unexpected turn of events. It's a draw! And as such, both Julie-Su and Kor Royce are out of the tournament. We'll take a few minutes to clean up the arena before we continue on to our next match." The announcer stated.

The crowd cheered at this as both fought well, though the heroes were rather concerned for the two. Four paramedic Egg Pawns put the two on separate stretchers before running off to the medical facilities. Amy and Tails looked at each other before getting out of their seats.

 **-Sky Patrol-**

The Freedom Fighters all had blank expressions with their mouths hanging open at the outcome of that fight.

"Well, that just happened..." Rotor said after regaining his composure.

"Zat...was...amazing! At first, I thought Julie-Su had Kor 'on ze ropes' as you say. But he comes back and hits hard, though I guess zhey were _too_ evenly matched to win..." Antoine pointed out.

"I hope they're ok..." Cream said, feeling sad for them.

"Ah'm sure they're fine. Kor can take a hit, and ah think Julie isn't that worse off." Bunnie assured.

Sally glanced around and noticed Nicole wasn't in the room. A little confused, she got up from her seat and walked out into the hall, finding a rather nerve-wracked lynx looking at the floor, worry clearly written on her face. "You want to see him don't you?"

Nicole tried to feign her feelings. "W-What do you mean?" She smiled nervously.

"Nicole, I know you well enough that I know you care about him more than you let on. You even gripped the couch almost every time Kor took a hit." The princess pointed out. "And don't tell me you were concerned for both."

Nicole tried to think of an excuse, but her CPU drew a blank. It was true, she was well more concerned about Kor's well-being that Julie-Su's, as harsh at that sounded to her. She couldn't even explain _why_ she felt that way. If she had to guess, it may have had to do with the emotion people call 'love'. Now she had some understanding as to why Cream gave such an outburst earlier.

Sally patted her shoulder with a smile. "Come on, let's go to Casino Park."

"But...isn't that a long trip?" Nicole asked as she followed her.

"We aren't that far from the place. The Sky Patrol is roughly half an hour from it." Sally explained. "And I know you'll be worried sick until you're sure your _boyfriend_ is fine." She teased, causing the lynx to pause.

"H-H-He's n-not my boyfriend!" She blushed.

"He was in the past, and I'm sure it's only a matter of time before he is. You may need a push though." The chipmunk explained. "Oh, and first, we'll need to grab something from the armory. Kor's probably gonna be a little mad though."

 **-Casino Park: Medical Bay-**

Kor and Julie-Su were sitting next to each other in separate beds. They did quite a number on each other during the match: Kor lost a few teeth, sported a black eye, his jaw was found to be slightly misaligned, hence him wearing an e-collar, and his tail was dislocated. Julie-Su suffered fractured ribs, a broken eye socket (which was now bandaged), a damaged spine, and when the avalanche occurred, her left shin was cracked, which was why she was sporting a leg brace. While they were out, they had the cactus needles pulled from their bodies, and were told they'd be incapacitated for a few weeks. Once she woke up, Julie-Su fixed her nose, grunting in pain and giving a small snort once she set it back in place.

The two didn't speak to each other for a while, but looking at the sorry state both were in, Kor decided to break the ice. "Julie..."

"...What?..."

"...I'm sorry about what I did all those years ago...I thought I prevented the guard from reaching the alarm, but a stray bullet set it off..."

The echidna glared at him, but her look softened a bit. She gave a sigh. "...I'm sorry for not making sure no one called for backup...guess even I tend to miss my shots..."

"So I guess we both screwed up then?"

"I guess..." Silence followed for a few minutes.

"...Ya know, you weren't too bad out there. Glad to see you didn't get rusty."

The echidna chuckled. "Hah, in your dreams fox boy. Though you hit like a wall of lead..." She felt her chest. Just touching it gave her some slight pain.

"Well, you taught me some of those moves remember?"

"True..."

"Speaking of which, I didn't ask before, but why did you enter this tourney? I know for a fact you couldn't give two shits about the emerald." The engineer asked.

Julie-Su just shrugged. "I felt like I needed a challenge. It's been rather quiet since the world shattered." She gave a light chuckle.

"What?"

"You look funny with that cone on your neck." Kor just gave a slightly annoyed look.

Right then, Amy and Tails poked in. "Glad you two are awake." Tails smiled.

"That was a serious thrashing you both dealt to each other. What were you trying to do? Kill each other?!" Amy ended up yelling, causing both to look guilty.

Sonic appeared a second later. With the sun up, his werehog form disappeared. "Man, I knew you both fought like crazy, but I didn't think it'd be _this_ bad..."

"Well, we just needed to get it out of our system. Though she broke my jaw." Kor stated, which Julie chuckled.

"At least you paid it back with damaged ribs." She laughed for a second before coughing due to the aforementioned area.

The blue blur chuckled. "Heh heh, flirting already?"

Both Kor could respond, the door opened, prompting everyone to look. Surprised, Sally and Nicole were here. The A.I. was already in her physical form, and Sally was carrying something her backpack.

"Hey guys! Didn't think you'd show up." Sonic greeted.

"Well, we would've been back at the Sky Patrol, but _someone_ wanted to pay a visit." Sally glanced at Nicole, who was blushing.

Upon seeing Kor, she was happy he was awake, yet a horrified in the condition he was in. "Are you ok Kor? Does anything hurt?"

"My face hurts as the pain meds are wearin' off, but this is normal for me."

"Normal? How exactly is this _normal_? You could've been _killed_ out there!" Nicole stated.

"Are you forgetting I ran that risk for the last two years?" He smirked. He found it rather cute the lynx was acting this way, but he was happy that she wanted to come all the way here just to see him.

The pink echidna gave a small laugh. "Guess you've already found someone else Kor." The A.I. glared at her. "...What?"

Nicole started to fly into a small rant at Julie-Su about injuring Kor the way she did, though the fox did the same thing to the echidna. The others in the room tried to keep their laughter down as they found the whole thing to be cute and funny. Julie-Su just sweat-dropped the whole time.

"Ok Nicole, you've made your point." Sally laughed, causing the lynx to stop. "Anyway, based on how hard they fought, I figured they'd be like this. Which is why I brought _this_." She put the pack on the ground and opened it up, revealing the Quick Fix.

"Wait...how did you-" Kor started.

"Get into your safe? You can ask Nicole." Sally grinned.

"It was for a good cause..." The A.I. said nervously.

"Well I'd rather be walking around than sitting in bed all day...do you remember how to work that thing?" The engineer asked.

"Yeah, um...you flip this switch on and push the lever forward right?" The princess asked, to which Kor nodded.

The chipmunk then used the device on Kor and Julie-Su. Their bodies healed themselves at a rapid pace under the medigun's influence, mending any broken bones and realigning them properly. Even Kor's teeth had grew back. The fox removed his e-collar and stretched his back, satisfied with feeling a few popping sounds. "That's better..."

"I forgot you had one of those things." Julie stated as she removed her leg brace, rotating her foot a bit.

"Sorry for my outburst earlier, but...how did you two know each other?" Nicole asked.

"Oh, Kor's my ex-boyfriend." Julie state casually.

"WHAT?!" The lynx shrieked.

Thankfully, before she could fly into another rant, the 5th match was about to start. "Our next matchup is a mysterious ninja of unknown origin. Give it up for Espio! And his opponent, the duck that loves to make things go boom, Bean! Our arena has changed from the desert to the forest, so let's see how things turn out!"

"Espio is here?" Sonic asked.

"Oooh that good for nothing jerk! I hope Espio gives him his just desserts!" Amy said in anger, remembering how Bean along with Bark ditched them when Metal Sonic came to attack Mobotropolis.

"Hmm, if Espio is here, I wonder who else entered..." Sally said in thought.

Espio was hoping to get some revenge after his and the Chaotix's last encounter with the Hooligans. Long story short, the Hooligans left them to die in a mine shaft full of Dark Gaia monsters. Compared to the highly focused Espio, Bean seemed highly uninterested in the fight, slumping about the ring in a tired manner while effortlessly avoiding the chameleon's attacks. However, it became clear the duck was playing Espio for a chump when he tripped the ninja, causing him to fall out of the ring. Vector and Charmy were not pleased.

Round 6 came soon after, with Knuckles fighting Bark. The echidna and Chip managed to find the Master Emerald shard in the area, though Knuckles was confused as to how he ended up in the fighting tournament when he knows he didn't sign the roster. However, that didn't matter now as long as he had to chance to thrash Bark as payback for what the Hooligans did to him and Chaotix. The two engaged in a classic boxing match with the ring now depicting an icy tundra. Bark initially had the offensive, but Knuckles countered hard. After a few minutes of viciously slugging it out, the two were in a deadlock. However, Knuckles managed to punch out Bark with a flaming haymaker.

Julie-Su in particular was interested in that match. She had seen Knuckles before but never knew him well given her mission at the time. However, seeing him fight and putting up with such odds, she had to give him credit. He was tougher than he looked. She didn't want to admit it, but she did have some admiration for him. Perhaps later on she could meet him in person.

Amy, Honey, Tails, Kor, Espio, Sally, and Nicole clapped for the echidna.

"Heh, nice job pardner." Kor stated.

"I've could've done that..." Tails pouted. Honey paid him back by giving him a red bow with her insignia on it, which everyone else found to be cute.

"Oh stop pouting. We didn't even know Knuckles was participating, much less Espio. Besides, that's another person on our side, and Honey and I are both advancing." Amy pointed out.

"And look on the bright side. Since you're out, you won't have to fight Knuckles. Amy though..." Honey said as she scrolled through the roster on her phone.

"Wait what?!" Amy asked in shock.

Kor took out his phone and looked at the roster. "Yeah, you're fighting Knucklehead Amy, and Honey gets Sonic."

"Oh you've got to be kidding..." Amy shrank in fear. Even if Knuckles was their friend, he's still likely to flatten her.

"Well, there's still 4 of us competing compared to two of the Hooligans. We may win the emerald regardless." Nicole pointed out.

Sally nodded. "Right, so in the end, the emerald would wind up with us."

"Besides, I'm sure you'll do fine Amy." Kor assured her, though when she wasn't looking, he turned to Sally and Nicole and shook his head. The princess gave a snort in response.

Nicole looked up the roster on her database to see what the next few matches would be. Since both Kor and Julie-Su were out, some changes had to be made. "Nack and Bean will fight each other?"

"Interesting. Who do you think will win?" Sally asked.

Julie-Su decided to give her input. "Hmm...Nack is known for his accuracy, but he's not much of a brawler. Bean on the other hand, we saw how he is: completely random."

"Whatever the outcome, I'm gonna record it and put it on Breeze Tube." Kor chuckled.

As Bark was taken to the medical bay, Nack was on the phone with Eggman. With their strongest teammate out of action, Nack knew their chances of getting the emerald dropped dramatically. "Hey doc, Bark's gone, and though myself and Bean are still in, we're gonna go up against Sonic and Knuckles soon. You sure you don't want to move to the backup plan?"

"No. I want to see the look on Breezie's face when I beat her at her own game. When you fail, _only_ then will we start playing by my rules." Eggman chuckled darkly, monitoring Metal Sonic's progress. It was closing in on the casino.

The next set of matches came about an hour later, and in the 7th round it was Nack vs. Bean. There was a twist to this though: both were allowed to use their signature weapons. The whole match was really a barrel of laughs. Nack was shooting wildly at Bean while the crazed duck lobbed bombs at him. Sonic, Kor, Sally, Nicole, and Julie-Su couldn't stop laughing, and the red fox was recording the whole thing with his phone. Nack eventually got pissed at the fact Breezie set him up before he drop kicked Bean in the face and ordered him to take a dive. The pink echidna groaned and gave Kor $50 as they met a bet during the down time.

"Happy with Bean getting dumped Es?" Sonic asked.

"Not entirely..." Espio groaned. He was a bit irate as Vector chewed him out earlier in a phone message.

"Well, you managed to get Knuckles into the tournament, but what about Vector and Charmy?" Tails asked.

"Knuckles was easy as he was in the area. I wasn't sure if it'd work, but it did. To be honest, the change should've been caught, and the hooligans being pitted against each other? Suspicious..." The ninja explained.

"So you're saying Breezie's messing with the brackets." Sonic deduced.

"I already figured she was. Would explain why me and Julie wrecked each other so early..." Kor mused.

"Right, and since Eggman is involved, there's no telling what else Breezie might do." Espio told them.

Kor leaned back in his chair. "You mean like having Sonic and Knuckles fight each other? That'd boost ratings."

"How'd you figure that?" Tails asked.

"Easy. Speed vs. Power. It's a simply interesting matchup no matter how you look at it." The older fox explained. "Looks like it's Amy and Knuckles turn."

Both friends met in the center and shook hands. Their ring was a simple urban area, indicating a street fight. Amy was determine to win so she'd be the one to fight Sonic, but right as the round started, she became concerned as to whether or not it would impress the Blue Blur or upset him. As she was caught up in her thoughts, Knuckles pounded her position with enough force to shatter the ground, sending the pink hedgehog screaming as she flew out of the ring amongst the debris. Her trajectory sent her directly towards the stands.

Most sitting around immediately cleared the area, except Kor who was busy looking through his phone to upload a certain video on Breeze Tube. He looked up in time to see Amy along with several large pieces of the ring just feet from him.

"Sweet mother of-!" He was cut short as he got crushed. "Ow..."

Sonic and Tails glared at Knuckles, who stood innocently in the middle of the ring. "I...I thought we were fighting..." Was all he could say.

And that people, is how Kor ended up in the medical bay twice during the tournament. However, he and Amy didn't stay long due to the power of the Quick Fix. When asked how they healed so quickly, Kor just said "Sonic's quick healing rubs off on people."

"How ya feelin' Ames?" Sonic asked as they walked through the hall.

She folded her arms, staring at the floor. "Annoyed...I shouldn't have lost that easily..."

"Welcome to the club..." Tails muttered.

"Seriously though, are you ok physically?" He asked again.

"Yeah, just my pride is wounded. Promise me you'll get to the final round and kick Knuckles' butt for me?"

"Heh, from here to Angel Island and back. But, I have to get through Honey first." Sonic grinned.

"Avenge me!" Tails shouted.

The semi-finals were underway in 10 minutes. Sonic and Honey went first. The fashion diva was thinking about throwing the match since she felt bad about being in the tournament for self promotion when Sonic was trying to _save the world_ , yet the hedgehog managed to convince her to put on a show for the people. She used the same moves she used on Tails, but Sonic was too quick for her. The match was over in a minute as Sonic tossed her out of the ring when she tried to pull her signature confusion ability.

Immediately following that, Knuckles went up against Nack. It's pretty obvious who won, but because I like seeing Nack get his ass kicked, I'll tell you how. The weasel bounced around the echidna, who just stood there in a fighting stance. Nack attempted to outsmart Knuckles or try to psyche him out so he'd lose focus, much like Espio did against Bean. When his tactic wasn't working, he grew irritated and slapped his tail repeatedly against him to get his attention. This proved to be a fatal mistake as Knuckles simply grabbed the appendage and slammed him repeatedly into the ring before punching him out. The weasel landed in the same spot Amy did, which was now closed off due to the damage.

"So Julie, you ever get the chance to speak with Knuckles?" Kor asked.

"I did before the semi-finals. It...wasn't too good..." She said defeatedly. "He still remembers the whole 'Brotherhood' incident..."

"Eh, he'll get over it. From what I've heard, he can't stay mad for long." The fox said in assurance. "Besides, I know you got a thing for him." He smirked.

"What is that supposed to mean?!" She retorted.

"I've seen the look in your eyes. It's the same one you gave me when we started getting serious."

"Out of curiosity, how far did you two go in your relationship?" Sally asked. Kor looked around to make sure Nicole wasn't nearby. Thankfully, she was talking to Amy.

"Uh...well, we...we had sex once..." He blushed.

Sally's eyes widened at that. "Really?"

"Please don't tell Nicole or I'll never hear the end of it..." He begged.

Julie-Su yanked on his ear, clearly annoyed. "Are you telling about the time we conducted 'business'?..."

Kor feigned innocence. "Nope." He decided to change the subject. "Got any plans once this whole charade is over?"

She let him go. "Hmm...I haven't thought about it. I barely get any work now due to the current situation, and I hardly stay in one place."

"Then how about you join us on the Sky Patrol? You can help us fix the planet." Sally suggested.

"Hmm...I'll put that into consideration." The pink echidna replied.

As the final round came, Sonic and Knuckles were geared to face off once again. Unlike the other matches, the ring didn't change at all.

"Huh, no fancy setting? Guess Breezie doesn't want any distractions from the main event." Sonic smirked.

"Then we'd better put on a good show. Try to last more than one round alright?" Knuckles mocked.

"Pfft. How many times have I kicked your butt? Three? Four?"

"Hah, in your dreams. I must've beaten you so bad in that past that you're delusional!" The echidna smirked.

However, right as their match was getting underway, the Hooligans set their plan into action. Bean set up sticky bombs using chewed gum and his old fashioned TNT. He stuck them to the main generator and waited. Nack himself was positioned on the rafters with his rifle out, posed to shoot the two combatants. He gave the order right before Sonic and Knuckles really got into their fight. The lights in the arena went out before they could trade blows again.

"Is this part of the show?" Knuckles asked.

"I doubt it..." Sonic told him, also confused.

"Anyone else feel that vibration?" Kor asked.

"I did as well. I'm scanning to figure out what it was..." Nicole stated. "Hold on, I'm detected a strong badnik signal approaching..."

"There are badniks everywhere here Nicole." Sally pointed out.

"Heh, rumor was that you transform at night Sonic. Didn't think it was an unmoving target." Nack grinned. He both Knuckles and Sonic in his sights. However, just as he was about to pull the trigger, something crashed through roof next to him. The unknown then flew right past the duo in the ring.

"Wasn't that..." Sonic started.

"METAL SONIC?!" The heroes in the stands shouted.

The metal doppelganger made a beeline for the security tunnel that lead straight to the vault containing the chaos emerald. As it expected, the security grid was offline, though Metal was surprised to find the security staff missing, along with the vault door being slightly ajar. Whether someone tried to steal the emerald before it arrived or it was being set up, Metal didn't know. But it didn't have time to dwell on it. It had to retrieve the emerald before the backup generator to the defenses came online.

Snatching the gem from its case, Metal Sonic made its escape. Sonic was the first on the scene, intercepting his double. Not wanting a confrontation, the robot focused on getting out of dodge. Sonic gave chase, and the heroes that took part in the tournament tried to block its route: Knuckles attempted to punch it, Amy swung her hammer, Espio threw a few shurikens, Honey tried a flying punch, and Julie-Su and Kor, who surprisingly had brought guns, shot at it with a shotgun and laser pistol respectively. Unfortunately, Metal evaded every single attempt to block it and crashed through the roof before Sonic could grab a hold on it. It thought it was in the clear, but it didn't account for one thing.

Tails was waiting above the roof incase the robot managed to evade the others. He clocked the super robot right in the head the second he appeared, forcing him to drop the emerald. "Nice try Metal Sonic! And if I've done my math right, the casino's backup generator should kick in right...about...now!"

Alarms blared in the vault as it detected the gem missing from its container. Gates locked, windowed were barred by lasers, and automated turrets began to lock onto Metal Sonic. Plus, security forces were closing in.

Sonic jumped through the hole in the roof Metal made. "Nice job buddy! So how are we gonna do this Metal? Can you take on us, 6 professional butt-kickers, _and_ Breezie's security measures?"

Metal was prepared to throw down against the odds, but Eggman ordered it to retreat, declaring the entire mission a failure. Glaring at the duo, it activated its thrusters before taking off.

"And winner by making Metal look like a chump, Miles Prower!" Sonic boasted, holding Tails' hand up like an announcer. "Feels better than losing in the tournament huh?"

"Heh heh, you got me there." The kit smiled.

Since the heroes prevented Metal Sonic from escaping with the powerful gem, they were automatically awarded it as thanks. Right now, Knuckles, Sonic, Amy, Kor, Sally, and Nicole were waiting for Tails to come around with the car, with Sonic was trying to convince Knuckles to join them.

"Come ooooon!" Sonic begged.

"I don't know..." Knuckles replied, unsure.

However, the hedgehog was very persistent. "Just come back with us! I'm sure there's something on the Sky Patrol that could help you out."

The echidna gave it some thought for a few moments. "Hmm...well, I do have a couple things to drop off for you guys."

"Like what?" Amy asked.

"Sorry I'm late!" A new voice called out.

Everyone turned and saw a small, marooned creature flying towards them. It was struggling to carry a bag that was full of sweets. "I just needed to get my bag!"

"Everyone, this is Chip, the Light Gaia. He's the spirit that's supposed to fix the world." Knuckles stated.

"Awesome! Nice to meet ya Chip!" Sonic replied, shaking the Light Gaia's hand.

"You must be Sonic! You look a lot stronger than Knuckles said you were!" Chip said in excitement. The blue blur looked at the guardian in annoyance.

Kor noticed Tails approaching. "So we're all set?"

"Yeah. Wait, can the car fit everyone?" Amy asked.

"Don't worry, we came over on the extreme gear." Sally said, pointing towards the board she was carrying.

"Wait!" Another voice yelled. Everyone turned again, and this time it was Julie-Su.

The pink echidna panted a bit due to being out of breath. "I've...I've decided to come with you guys."

"And why should we trust you?" Knuckles asked.

"Look Knuckles, I'm sorry for what happened on Angel Island. I was just a blind soldier following orders, and I was tired of being stuck in a dimension with nothing to look forward to but cold and dark environment...also, I figured it'd be good to be part of something bigger than myself."

"Welcome aboard Julie-Su. The Sky Patrol has plenty of room." Sally said as she extended her hand.

"Glad to join." She smiled, shaking hands with the princess.

"So where were you anyway?" Kor asked.

"Looking for you guys. You all just up and disappeared when I wasn't looking."

Once everyone was seated, Tails began driving back to the Sky Patrol, with Sally riding along the side. Thankfully it was much closer than when they first departed, so it wouldn't be a long trip.

"So Knuckles says you guys were collecting the chaos emeralds?" Chip asked.

"Yeah. Counting the one was got today, that's 4." Sonic replied.

"There are 7 emeralds right?" Julie asked.

"Yep. Pretty soon we'll have them all. I even learned a new technique to help us track the emeralds _and_ the Gaia Temples!" Amy boasted.

"Are you guys always this awesome? I mean, is there anything going wrong at this point?" Chip asked cheerfully.

"Well, I can think of a few things." Kor smirked, looking over the horizon. The sun had set within a few seconds, and Sonic was covered in a purple mist, which surprised Knuckles, Chip, and Julie-Su. When it cleared, they were quite surprised. Well, actually, they freaked out.

"And that's one of them." The engineer laughed.

"Yeah, you see...I have this condition..." The werehog said sheepishly.

 **A/N: And that's the end of the fighting tournament saga. This chapter was rather long as I included every fighting match including the one I created. Also, you've seen that Nicole can be of the jealous type when she learned Kor had another significant other. You can only imagine her reaction if she finds out they went 'all the way'. But, as I said, that's just a tease for you guys. You'll see more of Kor/Nicole later on.**


	9. Unexpected Meetings

**A/N: Chapter 9 is coming down people. This will possibly one of the chapters you've been waiting to happen, and you will see for yourself as you read it. With another emerald secured, the heroes headed back to the Sky Patrol to plot their next move. However, they'll both get unexpected help, and slightly derailed.**

 **Also to Shard: There are plans for an original arc that takes place a few years after the present storyline, but that will come later. On an interesting note, at some point I plan to make another arc with a zombie apocalypse setting. I don't have everything fleshed out yet, but I plan to include elements of Left 4 Dead and Dying Light whenever I feel like writing that story.**

 **Disclaimer: All characters belong to Archie and Sega except my OC and its affiliates. Unfortunately, Julie-Su belongs to Penders...**

"So how long will be changing into Mr. Monster Guy?" Chip asked.

"Until the planet isn't shattered I guess. But, I've learned how to handle this already." Sonic grinned.

"I wonder how much shampoo you need to use when your shower." Knuckles joked.

Kor stretched as he got out the car, and the floor of the hanger vibrated as Hornet ran towards them, wagging its bare tail. The gun pod was sitting next to the wall along with the weapon dispensers. The fox gave a snort. "Easy Hornet, I missed you too pardner." He patted the drone on its face.

"So when did you built this?" Julie-Su asked.

"Some time after we broke up, I hacked Eggman's database and stole blueprints for E-117. Eight months later, Hornet was fully built. Speaking of which, Hornet needs to go do a CAP." Kor replied, walking over to the dispensers.

"Did Eggman ever catch on to the times you've hacked his database?" The pink echidna questioned once more.

"Not that I'm aware of. Almost got caught stealing Hornet's blueprints though." The red fox opened up Hornet's dispenser and started loading missiles into the side bay.

"Howdy y'all. What happened at the tournament? We saw Knuckles and Sugah-Hog brawlin', but then whole channel was shut down." Bunnie asked as she walked in. Rotor, Antoine, Cream and Cheese arrived right behind her.

"Someone blew up the generator and Metal Sonic tried to steal the emerald. But, Tails stopped him." The werehog grinned at his brother, who smiled sheepishly.

"Heh, forcing Metal Sonic to run is a reward in its own right. Now we have 4 emeralds, well technically 5 since Knuckles was holding onto one, right?" Rotor gestured to the echidna.

"Yeah. I've been holding onto it since I got one from one of those huge Dark Gaia things."

"Think we should start putting more focus into finding the Gaia Temples?" The walrus suggested.

"That would be better. We're _way_ behind on that end..." Sally stated. "However, we don't have any leads as to where the next possible temple would be, and Amy couldn't detect anything on the way back..."

"So, we are doing ze, how you say, sit and hold game?" Antoine asked.

"Sit and wait Ant, and might have to, even though I hate waiting." Sonic agreed.

"Well, this engineer would like to sit down for once. Honestly, this whole week and a half's been nothing but constant movement with little rest in between." Kor told them, shutting Hornet's side bay.

"That is true. At this point, the only thing we can do now is keep cruising along until we find a temple, or someone contacts us about it." Sally stated.

"Well, that gives me time to get to know you guys better." Chip smiled.

"So I guess Sonic managed to get you both to join?" Rotor asked the two echidnas.

"Well, temporarily. Also, Chip here is the Light Gaia. He supposed to know how to fix the world, but he...lost his memory." The guardian explained.

"Hmm...well, I can give you guys the tour of the Sky Patrol. It has everything!" The captain smiled.

"Be ready for a long, winded tour..." Sonic whispered to Knuckles.

 **-A few days later-**

Over the past few days, the heroes had been getting some much needed rest and relaxation. Rotor showed Knuckles, Julie-Su, and Chip around the ship, but in the end Chip was the only one still in awe at everything as the two echidnas were practically asleep half-way through the tour. On the first day, they couldn't detect any temples nearby, and they still hadn't found any leads as to where the emerald that was used as bait last week ended up. Not too worried about this, the heroes decided to do their own thing for a while.

Chip made good on his promise to spend time with everyone. He helped Rotor make repairs around the ship, helped Antoine with some cooking, napped with Big, did some movement exercises with Amy, Cream, and Cheese, spent some time with Sally and Nicole while they read a good book, and played music with Bunnie (she was using her guitar while he used a harmonica). He even helped play a prank on Kor with Sonic and Tails. The older fox was in the shower singing _Livin' on a Prayer_ by Bon Jovi when the trio snuck in and flushed the toilet, causing the water to become unbearably hot within a second. They spent 10 minutes running through the ship as Kor, still wet, gave chase with his wrench.

Amy took Julie-Su out for some shopping to get her some new threads as she lost most of her belongings when the world broke apart. Chip had been encouraging her while she was in the gym of the Sky Patrol, mostly practicing moves on a punching bag. She even spent time in the training room to work on her accuracy. One time, she walked in and saw Sally doing sword practice with Antoine. Amusingly, Sally did everything she could to beat the coyote, but he parried every move she made _while reading a book_.

Later on, the Light Gaia decided to help Kor test out a new weapon he created, mainly as an apology for the prank. Before yesterday, no one has ever heard of a double-barreled pump shotgun. The engineer bought two Kel Tech KSGs and essentially stuck them together. The body had to be widened slightly to accommodate shells being placed next to each other in the shell tube, and the fox fired it from different angles to see if the gun would jam while loading in more buckshot. The fox even made two muzzle breaks for the barrels, mainly due to the fact they didn't extent like an assault rifle so it made it a little difficult to see if he as aimed properly when using the iron sights. He made a mental note to buy a scope for the gun later.

However, their days of rest weren't always relaxing. Since the Sky Patrol was drifting closer to Eurish, the heroes had been fighting off swarms of Dark Gaia monsters every night. As such, this brings to the present, which is what they were doing right now. It was 5 in the morning when the heroes realized the ship was being attacked. For today's shift, Sally, Tails, Rotor, and Kor were on point.

Rotor was manning a gun turret as he shot at the monsters. "Get these things off my ship!"

"Working on it!" Sally replied as she sliced a monster in two with her ring blades.

"Is Eurish infested with these things? I'm getting sick of fighting them every night!" Kor groaned, picking off a few monsters with his newly named DP-12. The DP means 'Double-barreled Pumped', with the 12 indicating the gauge of the shotgun.

"Please tell me the sun is around the corner..." Sally moaned as she cut up another monster.

T-Pup flew next to her, displaying Nicole's face on its screen. "Just three minutes guys! Precisely two minutes and 17-"

"I think we get it Nikki!" Kor smacked a monster with the gun's stock before attempting to shooting it. He pressed the trigger, only to be met with a dissatisfying clicking sound. "Dammit! Gotta reload!" A small group of monsters decided to take advantage of the situation and swarmed him. He yelped in pain as one of them bit him his leg.

Sally was the only person close enough to aid him and went through the group, slashing every monster she saw. However, one of them tackled her, and she was pretty close to the edge of the ship. She slashed it to pieces, but couldn't regain her footing before starting to slip. Thinking quickly, she dug her sword into the side of the ship. The princess looked down to see the planet's exposed asthenosphere.

A hand reached out to her. "How's it hangin'?" Kor smirked.

Sally gave a small chuckle. "Just help me up."

The fox gripped her hand tightly before heaving her up. "Thanks for the save by the way."

"Same goes for you." The chipmunk replied.

A few monsters were about to attack Tails. He already dealt with several them to the point he was getting worn out. Thankfully, a blinding light came over the horizon, forcing them to dissipate. Sunrise had arrived.

"Phew...that's the last of them." Rotor stated.

"Those two minutes felt like forever..." Tails mused.

The 4 mobians and T-Pup went back inside, and they were greeted by Cream as they entered the main control room. "Is everyone ok?" The young rabbit asked. She had set up a small breakfast tray.

"No worries Cream, we're all here." Sally greeted.

"Just tired, though T-Pup needs repairs again." Tails replied as he smiled at his robot dog.

Rotor yawned as he sat in the captain's seat. "The Sky Patrol needs the same treatment...nothing like getting up before the sun does..."

"I know! I'll go make some coffee!" Cream said before walking off.

"Thanks kiddo." The walrus told her.

"Cream can make coffee?..." Kor asked in his half-tired state. He sat in a seat and lied his head down on one of the consoles.

"Apparently." Rotor responded with another yawn. He really needed something to keep him awake, since he doubted he'd ever go back to sleep now that it was day time.

"Ok, but with that thing _you_ built?" The engineer questioned again.

"It ain't that complicated Kor. You've used it before."

"Yeah, cause I'm smart enough to figure it out..."

As if to be proven correct, they all heard a loud crash, followed by Cream screaming. Rotor jumped out of his seat to go check the damage.

Sally gave a light-hearted laugh. "Guess Cream and coffee don't mix."

"Heh, nice." Was Kor's response.

"Please don't tell me you're proud of that joke..." Nicole stated, her upper body appearing from her PDA.

"Oh hush. I'm just tired." Sally smiled.

"Sally...I know everything turned out for the best, but if I may..." The A.I. started.

"Sure. What's on your mind?" The princess asked.

"What you did back there was rather...reckless. Creatures like the ones that were harassing Kor disappear once the sun rises. They wouldn't have lasted much longer..."

"Either that or I would've shot 'em up first..." Kor chuckled, eyes still closed. "Not like I didn't appreciate the help though."

"I know that, but it's not like I could just sit around and do nothing..." Sally told Nicole. She looked over the tray before grabbing a muffin.

The lynx gave a sigh. "I understand, at least, I think I do. But still..."

Before she could continue, a notification literally smacked her in the face. Rubbing her eye, she read it, before her eyes went wide. "Dr. Ellidy!" Was all she said before she disappeared from the system. This didn't go unnoticed by her comrades.

"Nicole? Nicole!" Sally said, looking at her PDA. It was completely offline. "She's gone!"

Rotor walked in with a cup of joe, apparently having fixed the mess Cream made. "Now what's wrong?..."

"Nicole said something about a 'Dr. Ellidy' before she just disappeared." Kor explained.

"Huh. Haven't heard _that_ name in a while." Rotor replied as he took a sip from his cup.

Tails did a scan on the ship's systems from his console. "She isn't anywhere on the Sky Patrol, but I'm picking up something from the Digital World. That's probably where she went."

"Ok before you continue, whose Dr. Ellidy?" The engineer asked.

"Dr. Ellidy used to be the head of Research and Development for Computer Technology. He worked with my father for many years before he retired."

"Hmm...computer tech..." Kor rubbed his chin in thought. "Wait, would Dr. Ellidy happen to be Nicole's creator?"

Sally nodded. "He gave me Nicole before he left for Isolated Island, and if she left, then something must've happened at his residence. We better go check it out, but Nicole..."

"Don't worry. Nicole can jump back into the Sky Patrol's systems, but if the doc is in trouble, then you better get going." Rotor responded.

"Right. The Tornado will get us there the fastest, so Tails, Kor, get your stuff together." The princess ordered.

"Will be interesting to meet someone who made an A.I. as sophisticated as Nicole." Kor said as he got out of his seat. "Hope she's alright though..."

"I'm sure Nicole can handle herself. After all, her abilities are more advanced in the digital realm." Tails assured him.

 **-Elsewhere-**

Within the depths of the internet, lies the Digital World. As an artificial reality, this vast expense is connected to every computer in the world, allowing the possibility for one to access as much information as they needed (barring the system doesn't have heavy security measures). No mere organic can access this plain of existence, unless they utilize device known as a digitizer. Since Nicole is a highly advanced A.I., her abilities are exponentially increased, but are limited by how much power she can input for a given duration.

Like a person with psychic powers, Nicole flies through the digital landscape in search of her creator. Passing through a digital forest, she heard a strange noise. Looking to her left, she saw a gray lynx cornered by strange black digital creatures. The A.I. wasn't sure what they were, but they sure as hell weren't friendly. She tried to wave them off, but all they did was growl at her. Not having much of a choice, she created a pitchfork-like weapon (a bit similar to a triton), and slashed the monsters in half.

Dr. Ellidy opened his eyes to notice the monsters were gone. What he saw next, he couldn't believe. "N-Nicole..."

The young lynx smiled. "Hello doctor. It's been a long time I suppose." She helped him up. "Tell me Dr. Ellidy, how did you manage to get into the Digital World?"

"Well, I have a digitizer at home that I used to upload my conscious into my mainframe. There was a...problem with my little friends. I tried to figure it out the old fashion way, but when they didn't work I tried for a more...direct approach."

"Then you found yourself trapped out here?"

"Yes...I would've been back in my own system, but, there's this blockade now...I-I tried to find a way around it, but then those things started to follow me...I dread to think how long I've been in here...probably dehydrated...all I could do was send out a distress signal, but I didn't expect you of all things to answer it."

"Well, more like I _felt_ it." Nicole stated, rubbing her forehead.

"So, this physical form of yours...is it something Sally assigned to you?" Ellidy asked out of curiosity.

"No. I chose it for myself."

"...I see..."

"Anyway, we need to get moving. Being out here for so long can't be healthy..." Nicole told him, wearily looking around. "Where is the point from which you entered the Digital World?"

"Over this ridge I believe." Ellidy replied, leading the way.

After a minute of walking, the come across what appears to be a digital firewall. Nicole easily hacked the structure, forcing it part just enough for them to pass. Once Ellidy made it through, Nicole looked over her shoulder, where she could see numerous black creatures sitting on the hill not far from their position. It was odd how the doctor had been able to venture into the system easily, but was locked out. Could've been that his security measures mistook him for a virus, or something else purposely locked him out. She would have to find out more about this later.

 **-In the skies above the ocean-**

"Since he created Nicole, wouldn't that make 'Ellidy' Nicole's last name?" Kor asked.

"I guess you could say that." Sally replied. The two were sitting on the wings of the Tornado as Tails piloted the plane to Isolated Island.

"So how long have you known him?" The engineer asked.

"A long time, but I haven't seen him since I was little." The princess stated.

"Dr. Ellidy is also the guy who created the Mobotropolis Grand Archive right? It's got information on just about everything! I could sit for hours reading it, uh...not that I have." Sally and Kor gave the kit a smirk. "Ok ok not _too_ often."

"Hope it doesn't have information on me in there..." Kor muttered.

Sally knew it did, but she didn't want to worry the engineer. "He is Tails. He also made these ring blades for me later on." The princess looked at the two blue gauntlets on her wrists.

"That's a bit of a jump isn't it? Going from computer development to magic ring research?" Tails asked.

"Well, he started that research after he retired."

Kor noticed a large island on the ocean about a few miles away. It also appeared to have a few structures on it. "Is that it?"

"Yep! Going in!" Tails stated.

As they got closer, Tails realized he couldn't land the Tornado next to the doctor's home, so they had to land in an open area close by. "Sorry about that guys."

"Don't sweat it Tails. Saw his house to the north." Kor assured.

"Right, but let's keep an eye out for anything unusual." Sally ordered.

"Waaay ahead of ya in that department." The red fox smirked as he pulled back the vertical foregrip on his shotgun, causing it to load a slug into each barrel. "Gotta say, it feels nice out here."

"There's a Lake of Rings on this island right?" Tails asked.

"Yeah. Dr. Ellidy started doing ring research once he found out there was a lake here. The only other time we heard from him was when he sent these ring-blades, and that was years ago." Sally explained.

"Seems pretty lonely..." Tails said in thought.

"Yeah...even when I was by myself, before and after me and Julie-Su were a thing, I usually had my to robots to keep my company. Also might have helped keep my sanity intact..." Kor added.

After walking for a few minutes, Kor decided to ask something. "Does it ever occur to you guys why the sidewalks are checkered patterned?"

"Um...not really. Why?" Tails asked.

"I'm just saying, it seems really odd they're like that, and I know some designer isn't just going around the whole world marking them like a race track. If you ask me, it's-" The engineer was interrupted as a motobug badnik crossed in front of them.

Sally engaged one of her swords while Kor took aim. What surprised them however, was that it spoke. "Hello! Are you in need of assistance? If so, follow me please!"

"Uh...motobugs don't talk right?" Kor asked, lowering his weapon.

Sally shrugged. "Not that I know of..." It repeated the same message.

Tails walked up to inspect it. "It seems to be running on a pre-recorded message."

Sally came up to it, her sword still out incase it attacked. "We're looking for Dr. Ellidy?"

"Follow me please!" It said before speeding off. The trio looked at each other before following.

They followed the small badnik until they came across the doctor's house. It was swarming with old badniks, but instead of doing any destruction, they were all doing menial tasks such as watering plants, trimming hedges, etc. Sally and Tails were a bit creeped out by this, though Kor reminded them of Casino Park, which had twice as many of Eggman's old robots. Seeing the door was unlocked, they let themselves inside. Looking around the living room, they didn't see any sign of the doctor, but the lab itself was a different story.

While the lab itself was no different than say, that on the Sky Patrol, what stood out was Dr. Ellidy lying on a bed that had a broad digital beam arcing over his head, while two thinner ones appeared to be restraining him to the bed. He suddenly awoke with gasp, startling the others.

"Are you ok Dr. Ellidy?" Sally asked.

"N-Not entirely..." The elderly lynx held his head a migraine set in.

Nicole suddenly appeared on one of the monitors. "Perfect timing guys. Sorry for leaving the Sky Patrol so abruptly."

"It's ok Nicole. We brought your PDA with us." Tails said as he took it out.

"So, is that a weird way to nap or what?" Kor asked jokingly.

Nicole rolled her eyes a little at that. "Dr. Ellidy digitized his consciousness and got trapped in the Digital World for several hours."

"Tails, can you get him some water?" Sally asked.

"Sure. Kor hold this." The kit said as he passed Nicole's PDA to him.

Once his headache began to subside, the doctor began to feel a little better. "Thank you all for coming..."

"It's thanks to Nicole that we even knew you were in trouble. Actually...you can thank her in person." Sally said with a smile.

"In person?...How?..." Ellidy asked. He got his answer when Kor plugged a power ring to the A.I.'s PDA.

"Like I said, it's been a long time, and I've learned a few tricks since then." The younger lynx smiled as she materialized, surprising the doctor. He began to wonder what else she learned over the years.

Tails came back with a glass of water before Sally helped Ellidy into his living room. The princess and Tails then decided to take a look around the island, leaving Kor to get acquainted with the old lynx. He did say he wanted to meet him after all. Nicole was in the lab checking doctor's network.

The grayed lynx took a sip as he relaxed. "I'm sure you've noticed my little badnik buddies. Long story short, Dr. Eggman left them here after some failed operation he was doing, so I repurposed them."

"Yeah...almost shot one of them...I wonder how you managed to do that without them trying to kill you." Kor stated out of curiosity.

"Well, it was during my...younger days. Also, um...may I ask who you are?"

"Name's Kor T. Royce. A rather...dangerous fox to put it lightly." He lighly chuckled.

Ellidy took a small glance at the gun that was strapped to Kor's back. "I-I see..."

Kor decided to change the subject. He unstrapped his shotgun and lied it on the floor next the chair he sat in. "Do your badniks do anything besides yard work?"

Ellidy stared out the window. "They also help me in monitoring the island. As of late however, they also help deter those beasts that sometimes come out at night..."

The fox sighed. "Great...Dark Gaia monsters are here too...we just fought off a horde of them this morning...were you warned beforehand about them?"

"Somewhat...Chuck called me and explained what had been going on. He hoped I had some insight on this matter, though it's not really my field...after the quakes, I sent some of my robots out to investigate. Some of the footage I received was phenomenal! The water just stops at the edge of the fissures and nothing else occurs. I never understood why...the oceans should've poured off the edge and dried up by now."

"Well, I'll just say some magical force is doing that." Kor laughed. Incase you forgot, Chaos had slipped out the Master Emerald when the planet split and had been keeping the oceans together since then.

Nicole giggled as she walked in. "I always hated that excuse."

The fox turned his head. "Even when it's correct?"

" _Especially_ when it's correct...Dr. Ellidy, I want to discuss something with you about your system."

Unfortunately, Ellidy waved her off. "Actually...I don't think now is the best time. I'm still not feeling well..." He got up from his chair.

Nicole sighed. "Alright..."

"You gonna be ok doc?" The engineer asked.

"Yes...I just need to lie down is all..." He walked to what we can assume is his bedroom before he shut the door.

"Kor..." The fox looked at Nicole questioningly. "Do you think I'm causing Dr. Ellidy any stress?"

"I wouldn't know the answer for that Nikki. But, as you said he's been in the Digital World for hours, and I guess that can mentally strain anyone for that amount of time." He explained as he got up, walking with her to the lab. "Besides, y'all said he's been living by himself for a while, so I wouldn't blame him if he's being distant." He placed a hand on her shoulder. "But, don't let it get to you alright?"

The lynx paused for a moment before nodding. "Alright."

"Speaking of which...did you figure out what's going on out here?" Kor asked as he sat on the digitizer bed.

"He was using the digitizer to troubleshoot a problem with the reprogrammed badniks when he got stranded in the Digital World. The more I thought about it...the more I believe something deliberately attempted to prevent him from leaving. His system's defensive measures had been activated to make him be registered as an intruder, and I'm concerned whatever placed that firewall may have either been led here, or could already _be_ here."

Kor frowned. "So it seems we have a spah in our midst...what do you plan on doing?"

"Nothing turned up using the computers, so I'm going to enter the system later on and do some searching there."

"Well...when you do, be safe...I don't know what goes on in the digital world but...if something happens to you I swear I'm going to rush in there and destroy whatever's trying to harm you..." He told her. He faintly remembered it, but the fox could recall the time Nicole had been taken over by the Iron Queen. It was also the _only_ time Nicole purposely harmed him, even though she wasn't herself.

Nicole smiled as she sat next to him. "Don't worry Kor. It won't be like the last time you went into the Digital Realm..."

"...You still remember everything that happened in our previous lives right?"

"Yes...including us..." She smiled sweetly, lightly grabbing his hand.

Over the last few days, the two finally had some time to hang out. They even watched a movie together, even though Nicole had to go through a few rings due to how long it was. The fire that existed between them was being reignited, though it needed a bit more fuel before the two could even say they were in an actual relationship. Kor knew very well what that meant, though he wasn't sure if Nicole was ready to do that. No time like the present right?

Kor looked around, a bit nervous. "Well, since we're alone, you want to...um...?"

The lynx grinned at his nervousness. "Oh come here..." She lightly grabbed his cheeks and pulled him close. The engineer was slightly surprised but didn't even resist. Right as their lips were about to make contact, they heard someone laughing.

"Hope we aren't interrupting anything." Sally said as Tails trying to keep his laughter down.

Both the fox and lynx pulled away in embarrassment. "H-How long were you two there?" Nicole asked.

"Long enough to see you both about to make out." Sally smirked.

"Don't you know how to knock?..." Kor groaned.

Unknown to the heroes, there was a being watching them from within Dr. Ellidy's system. This being appeared similar to the creatures Nicole had faced earlier, but was much larger, imposing, and for some odd reason was wearing an omnious mask that represented a cat's face. "An organic being able to project a digital body...and a digital being able to project a physical body...how, very... _fascinating_!"

 **A/N: Well, this one was not as long, but regardless I think I did well. Y'all thought Kor and Nicole would finally kiss right? Nope! Not yet. So yeah you can see where I'm going with this now.**

 **Fun fact: The DP-12 is a real life double-barreled pump shotgun. To be honest, I'm not sure what DP in the name means, that's just my guess, but it _is_ a 12 gauge shotgun that appears much more effective than the actual Kel Tech KSG. While the KSG can hold 15 rounds, the DP-12 holds 16: 7 in each shell tube with 2 loaded in the barrels.**

 **Anyway, stay tuned for the next chapter.**


	10. Hacking IS a Direct Approach

**A/N: 10 chapters already and counting. Anyway, it's time to get this one in the box office. For those of you who might have noticed, I updated my story logo, and you can take a guess as to who it is. Credit goes to my older brother who drew it up for me in only two days (he studied graphic design and had been drawing years before that. I can't draw worth a damn). But yes, this is what my OC looks like currently (though he occasionally wears pants.) Also, turns out my guess was right about what 'DP' means for the that shotgun.**

 **Anyway, it's become clear that something wanted Ellidy out of the picture. However, the heroes don't realize it yet, but their foe is much more powerful than they could've predicted. Let's see how they figure out this mess.**

 **Disclaimer: All characters belong to Sega and Archie except my OC.**

Shortly after Sally and Tails caught the two love birds in a rather embarrassing position, Ellidy had awoken from his nap. The gray lynx grabbed a tissue to wipe his eyes as he found he had cried during his sleep. He could've sworn he heard someone utter 'Nikki', and like any parent, it still pained him knowing his daughter was no longer amongst the living. He wished he could've saved her, but...things didn't go as planned. Pushing those thoughts to the back of his mind, Ellidy stood and made it for the door. With his mind clearer, there were more pressing matters to discuss.

"What's all the laughter about?" He asked.

"Nothing, nothing." Sally said, still leaking giggles.

"Anyway, how was your nap doc?" Kor asked, seriously wanting to change the topic.

"It was, alright, I guess." He cleared his throat. "Anyway, as I don't get many visitors, how would you all feel if I gave you a tour of the place?"

"I think that would be nice." Nicole smiled.

"Right. As you can see from my lab, there isn't much. Aside from the monitors that give me a view of the place from the badnik's perspective, there's also my digitizer which you all would know by now, as I was lying on it before you arrived." Ellidy explained.

"Is it the first time you've been in the Digital World?" Tails asked.

"Well, actually no, somewhat. I've built this device with the intent of being able to fix any problems to my system that pushing buttons on a computer wouldn't solve. And through accident, I discovered what lied beyond your average computer system. Though, it was during that time I found myself stranded out there and well...you know the rest..."

"I see..." Sally then noticed a cylindrical machine next to the monitors. "May I ask what that device is for?"

"It's a safe built for preserving valuables, and I was about to mention that." The gray lynx smiled as he walked over to it. He input a code before the middle of the safe opened up. "This is also something I wanted everyone to take a look see. My latest discovery: the Red Star Ring."

As the name implies, the Red Star Ring is a massive ring that's almost twice the size of any regular power ring. Along with its unusual color scheme, it also contained a red star that takes up much of the middle.

"I have no records of such a phenomenon..." Nicole said in wonder.

"After doing some tests, I've found it's properties much like that of a regular ring, but the energy output may be multiplied by a factor of 10!" Ellidy stated as inspected the large ring.

"And it came from the Lake of Rings here right?" Tails asked.

"Yes. The lake usually produces a ring on a daily basis. However, just a week ago, it went dormant, so I thought it had dried up. Fortunately, I was wrong, and this oddity appeared. I don't know what caused this pattern to appear, but after a few days of no activity, it formed at the bottom of the lake. I still need to make more observations on it, and...are you looking for something?" Ellidy asked Kor, who opened the door to another room. It was rather cold as a cool mist poured onto the floor.

"Sorry, I got a bit curious. Makes sense that the server room would be cold considering the amount of heat these CPUs would produce." The red fox closed the door. "So you were saying?"

"Eh, yes. Anyway, I need more observations of the lake to deduce why this phenomenon occurred. It could be that the Dark Gaia energy may have something to do with it, but I'm still not sure..."

"Well, that Dark Gaia energy has been causing some strange things to happen since Day 1..." Kor mused.

Ellidy nodded. "However, the potential this ring has is fascinating! If I could just recreate the conditions or maybe even synthesize it, it could lead to a whole new level of understanding of power rings in general."

"It could also be great for Nicole." Sally pointed out, causing the doctor to glance at her. "While Nicole is able to project her physical form thanks to rings, their energy gets used up pretty quickly. So, with a more powerful ring, she could stay in her form as long as she wants."

"Well, I suppose, in theory..." Nicole said, a bit unsure.

Ellidy rubbed his chin. "Maybe..."

Tails noticed a pair of rings on a nearby table. "Wow! You even made magical chain links for the rings!" He picked one of them up to examine it.

"I wonder what's the limit on these." Kor asked, picking up the other. "Wanna test it?"

"Sure!"

"Now boys put those down. I haven't finished refining them yet!" Ellidy scolded them. He waited until they did before he walked over to the monitors. "Since the Red Star Ring appeared, I've had my little robot buddies monitor the lake. It appears to have grown dormant again, hinting that it might be making another ring. Unfortunately, I've lost the feed to that area..."

The engineer shrugged as he looked at the monitors. "Eh, could be a technical glitch or it was damaged." His curiosity peaked when the lower right monitor showed an ominous looking face on it. "Uh...you see that face on the lower right?"

"Hmm?" Ellidy asked, taking a look. When he did, the screen was static. "Ah yes, there has been more than one badnik acting strange lately..."

Kor scratched his brown hair. "I could've sworn I saw a face there though..."

"Think you might be a bit sleep deprived Kor?" Sally asked.

"I've been up for nights on end before Sal. I ain't hallucinating..."

"Well, regardless, this badnik is still active according to my systems. I tried to take a closer look with the digitizer and well...you saw how that went...other feeds are reporting similar issues." Ellidy told them.

The young kit perked up. "Well if its a hardware issue, I'd be happy to take a look at it."

"Actually doctor, I wanted to bring this up earlier..." Nicole began. " When you digitized yourself, you ended up _trapped_ out there, _and_ you came under attack. While you would have been fine physically, _mentally_ you were at risk. All of this points to deliberate acts of aggression, and as I've told Kor earlier, I believe someone is trying to take over your system..."

Ellidy gave a heavy sigh. "I'd like to believe my systems are ironclad, but I suppose you would know better than anyone, and I guess that makes sense..."

"Relax Dr. E. Nicole and I can handle this." Tails told him.

"Kor and I can go investigate the lake then. I'm guessing you don't have a vehicle or...?" Sally asked.

The elder lynx gave a smirk. "Heh, I'm not _that_ much of a recluse. There's a hovercraft in my garage. The keys for it are on the table under the lamp. Please be careful with it?..."

"Oh we will." Kor smirked, though that didn't give the doctor any confidence.

The red fox grabbed his gun off the floor while Sally grabbed the keys. The hovercraft only had one seat, so the two did a game of rock-paper-scissors as to who would drive. The princess smirked when she won. She promised to let Kor drive on the way back though. Having been given directions to the lake, it didn't take long to find it. However, the time of day was beginning to become an issue.

Kor looked at the orange hue that blanketed the sky. His ears flattened against his head. "I used to like nights, now I hate 'em..."

"I know that feeling. Let's find this ring before it gets dark out..." Sally took out a scanner and began looking at the readings. "Hmm...there's a baseline here, as well as an energy spike."

"Think that's our ring?"

"Could be..." Sally noticed a small flying badnik sitting on the pier that extended into the lake. It was offline. "Well, there's Dr. Ellidy's robot, but it doesn't seem to be responding to anything."

"He said it was 'online' right?" Kor asked.

"Yeah. Something doesn't seem right..." Before she could dwell on it further, Sally noticed a red glow coming from the lake. Upon closer inspection, it was another Red Star Ring floating near the surface. "There it is! Kor, hold my feet."

"Is that a little straight forward Sal? I mean, I didn't know you felt that way for me." Kor joked, starting to laugh.

The princess groaned. "Just shut up and help me..." The fox held onto her feet as half her body went under. He pulled her up when he saw her grab it.

Sally spat out some water. "Probably should've brought Big to fish it out."

"Well, gotta improvise. Now let's get outta here before dark set in."

However, as they were leaving, the 'offline' badnik suddenly became active, and aggressive. Kor and Sally could see the evil look in its eyes as it tried to ram them. Sally was about to slice it open with her swords, but Kor beat her to the punch. He lined up his shot before two sprays of buckshot tore into the badnik, taking it offline permanently.

The engineer pulled the pump foregrip back. The spent shells ejected out the bottom of the stock before two more took their place. "Another day, another crazy robot trying to kill us."

"Yes, but this is getting beyond creepy...hatever's in Ellidy's system is definitely aggressive...I wonder if it's after these Red Star Rings..." A beeping on the scanner drew Sally's attention. "This thing is still picking up an energy signature...is it the lake itself or...?"

"Well, lets worry about that later. It's gonna be dark soon, and I'm sure both of us don't want to be caught out here..."

The princess nodded. "Right." She was about to get in the front seat, but Kor grabbed her arm.

" _I'm_ driving, remember?" He smirked.

"Have you driven a car before?"

"Yeah, _once."_ Kor smirk grew into a devious grin. Sally gulped as she climbed into the back andd held onto something. Screams could be heard throughout the island as Kor drove the hovercraft like a madfox.

 **-Inside Dr. Ellidy's system-**

Nicole locked her PDA before she entered her creator's system. The first thing on her list was to check the firewall. Nothing appeared to have breeched it, but she knew something could've slipped in undetected. After checking the badniks, most of them were online, but not being responsive, though one _just_ registered as being completely offline. As she continued checking the system, Nicole became more certain that something else was in the doctor's network. Was it was very skilled hacker? A virus? Or perhaps...an A.I.? Nicole assumed it would be the first two. Chances of encountering an A.I. much like herself were less than 5%.

As she continued to check the system, Nicole felt a presence behind her. When she turned, nothing. Her eyebrows furrowed as a frown formed on her face.

"Hey Nicole. We finished checking all the servers and came up with zip. Think it's a virus or something?" Tails asked.

"Not sure...but there _is_ definitely something in here. I suggest we partition the system to limit its movements. I'm gonna search for it directly..."

"Alright, just be careful." Tails told her as he slid a server cartridge back into the main router.

"With the way you all interact, Nicole's growth is truly impressive..." Ellidy noted.

"Yep. I don't know if I could even pull off programming like that. For instance, I built a robot named T-Pup, and there was this one incident when we played fetch, and well...it's kinda embarrassing...Kor also developed these two cool machines he's used over the years, so he might be able to, but I don't know."

"Ah. Well...truth to be told, Nicole's creation was the result of...unique circumstances...I'm not sure-"

"You don't have to speak as if I'm not here." Nicole cut in before he could continue.

Ellidy mentally slapped himself for forgetting the speaker was on. "O-Oh, sorry...Nicole, do you remember when you were activated?" The doctor asked.

The A.I. paused her search. "Technically...I remember everything, but _how_ it happened is rather different from...well I just can't view those events the same as I see things now..."

"I see...was there some kind of catalyst or event that took place that changed your outlook?"

"I don't believe so, but as I said, my connection to those memories is not consistent..." Being a computer, she could still remember both timelines fairly well. However, for everyone else those memories would fade in time, being replaced by those of their new existence. "My entire perspective existed in a different context, and the more I think about it, the more those memories make me regret how limited I was in the past..."

Before Ellidy could ask another question, Sally and Kor walked in. The chipmunk was using a towel to dry herself. "Oh, you're back! And you found a _second_ Red Star Ring!"

"We found it as soon as we got there, along with some other readings...oh, and the robot, well-" Sally began.

"It tried to attack us after we got the ring, so we had to kill it." Kor explained.

"But, it wasn't responsive at first, but then it just went berserk..." The princess finished.

"That's not very reassuring. I don't know if we're even _close_ to figuring out the problem." Tails gave a yawn. "Boy I'm tired..."

Sally sighed. "Well it has been a long day..."

"You guys should get some rest." Nicole stated.

"But what about the robot problem?" The kit asked.

"I'll keep tabs on things. If anything goes wrong, I'll let you know." The lynx assured him.

Kor had a scowl on his face as he thought things over. This seemed so simple, yet so complicated. It was obvious something had already hacked into Ellidy's system given the crazed robot from earlier, but it was becoming a real chore just finding it. He was considering jumping into the system to help Nicole look for it, given his experience with rooting out spies during his mercenary years. However, he didn't want to upset the lynx if he thought she wouldn't be able to find the intruder.

Looking out the window, darkness was already here. Years of intense fighting gave Kor of sense of when he literally felt something bad may happen. Dark Gaia monsters _plus_ robots that could turn on them at a moment's notice? Not a good combination. As much as he would like to sleep tonight, he doubt he ever would.

"You gonna sleep on the couch Kor?" Sally asked.

The red fox shook his head. "Nah...I'm gonna stand guard. Something just ain't feelin' right..."

"Worried about Nicole?" Tails asked, making the engineer blush.

Kor scowled at the kit. "...Yes...but I'm also concerned about the fact Dr. Ellidy's 'friends' will knife us in the back when we least expect it, not to mention the Dark Gaia problem around here..."

"That is true...want some help?" Sally asked.

"Nah. Y'all get yer beauty sleep. I'm used to doing stuff like this." Kor walked towards the back door.

"Well before you head out, mind giving Rotor an update?" Sally tossed him the scanner. Apparently it also acted as a communicator. Kor caught before examining it.

"Eh, why not." He exited the house as everyone else started getting comfortable. Strapping his shotgun to his back, Kor fiddled with the device before he managed figure it out. "Hey, Rotor? You readin' me?"

"Hey Kor! How's it hangin'?" The walrus replied.

"Eh..." The fox did a shaky motion with his hand.

"That bad huh?"

"Well, not entirely. Dr. Ellidy is fine, though this whole situation is pointing towards someone trying to do a hostile takeover...whoever it was hacked into Ellidy's system and is trying to take control of his badniks."

"Wait, Dr. Ellidy has _badniks_?"

"Yeah, as odd as it sounds. Long story short, Eggman abandoned them yada yada yada...and Ellidy uses them for home defense and doing other stuff. Anyway, Nicole's trying to find out whose responsible for all of this. One of them attacked me and Sal earlier, and we still don't know if it's a virus or a hacker...hopefully we can nip this in the bud before it gets bad..."

"I hope so. We've been busy lately as well. Earlier today, someone named Gregarios contacted us. He said he had info on how to fix the world, so we're heading to Apotos."

Kor eyes widened. "Apotos? That's pretty damn far."

"Yeah. Hopefully you guys can catch us there when you're done."

"Right..." The engineer sighed, but then his lips formed into a smirk. "By the way, did you ever tell Cream how to operate the coffee machine?"

Rotor's face contorted into a frown. "Yeah...when she used it, she caused it to overload from pressing too many buttons before it fell over..."

The fox held a small laugh, but then his ears perked when he heard a noise. "Alright Rot, I'll let ya go. I'm gonna need to be on full alert for the next few hours...we'll see ya tomorrow."

"Alright. Cya." Was all Rotor said before he ended the transmission.

Kor unstrapped his gun as he cautiously looked around. He heard a noise coming from the back of the house. If someone was trying to break in, they're gonna wish the thought never crossed their mind. Eyes trained down the scope, he slowly moved around the edge until he could see the entirely of the rear of the abode. The fox lowered his weapon when he found Dr. Ellidy standing before a bricked area connected to the wall of his house. Kor felt he shouldn't intrude, but he also knew it would bug him later. The doctor always felt a bit uneasy around Nicole despite the fact she's pretty docile in nature. Time to get some answers.

The engineer was sure the doctor heard him as he neared, though he didn't show it. "Didn't expect you to still be up doc."

"This is something I've been doing almost every night...paying my respects to her..." A tear slid down his cheek.

In the bricked chamber, Kor was surprised to see a framed photo of a female lynx who looked close to Tails' age. What surprised him the most was how similar she looked to Nicole. "Uh...who is that?"

"That...is my daughter Nikki...she passed away several years ago..." It was then that Kor got the answer he was looking for. The two lynxes looked so much alike it would be unnerving for any parent to see someone that looked like their deceased child.

"What happened to her?..."

"She...she suffered from a rather debilitating disease that slowly degraded her health...I tried to save her by uploading her consciousness into a computer...I had everything planned, mapping out neural pathways digitally and even created an A.I. so I could copy her mind into it...but when I activated the handheld program...all I got was an emotionless voice..."

"That must be how Nicole was created..." Kor muttered.

"It still pains me when I see Nicole walking around among us when my poor Nikki never got the chance..."

Kor grew irritated by that comment. "Look doctor. I'm sorry for your loss, but you can't blame Nicole for what happened..."

"I didn't...that's why I gave her to Sally instead of deleting it all..."

"Well you gotta admit you're upsetting her by acting so distant..."

" _Upsetting her_? What would she know about that term?..."

The engineer growled before getting up to the elderly mobian's face. "If you're insinuating that Nicole can't feel anything, I won't hesitate to bust you up old man..." He stated venomously before backing off slightly. "Honestly, for someone as old as you, how can you be so-wait, why are we even arguing about this? You should already know Nicole isn't at fault period. I thought you'd be happy your own creation has evolved into something more than just a simple computer." Kor pointed out before he noticed a purple mist floating around the lynx's head. "Of course..."

"What?"

"There's Dark Gaia energy in the air, which means those things are close. I thought you said your robots usually hold them off."

"They _should_ , unless they're-" Ellidy stopped when he saw a few of his robots. Instead of fighting the monsters, their red eyes locked onto the mobians and started to attack them.

"Yeah, so much for your 'buddies'..." Kor groaned. He aimed his gun and put out 4 shots before he and Ellidy quickly ran inside.

Sally and Tails were sleeping on a chair and the couch respectively when they heard the sounds of gunfire. They both guessed Kor saw a few monsters and decided to have a little fun. They didn't think much of it until the fox quickly shook them both awake. "C'mon guys! Get up!"

"Wha...what's going on?" Sally asked, rubbing the sleep out her eyes.

"No time to explain, we gotta get to the lab!" Ellidy yelled as he rushed to the door. As he got in, the door was beginning to close on its own. Kor managed get to it and tried to hold it open. However, Ellidy saw it would probably crush him and pulled the fox in before it slammed shut.

Tails tried to move the door while Ellidy pressed the release button. Nothing worked. Sally noticed the monsters as well as the badniks trying to get in, so she moved to block the door using the furniture.

"Tails, a little help?!" The princess said as she started moving the couch. "Guys! What's going on?!"

"We're trying to figure that out..." Ellidy's muffled voice came through the metal door.

Kor was at the computer. "Nicole? Not to sound desperate but we could really use Ellidy's machines on our side right about now!"

Instead of the lynx giving an answer, a menacing face overtook the entire screen. Kor swore it was the same face he saw earlier. "I'm sorry but Nicole is unavailable. I'm in charge now." A feminine voice spoke.

The fox growled. "Who the hell are you?"

"I'm Phage. I'm here to retrieve Dr. Ellidy's research, the Red Star Rings, and the chaos emerald that's here on this island."

"Chaos emerald?" Ellidy asked, confused.

"So that's what Sally was picking up...who sent you?" The engineer asked. He gritted his teeth when Eggman's logo filled the screen. "Fucking figures...and I suppose if we give you the rings you're not gonna let Nicole leave?..."

"Perceptive. And yes, she's _mine._ "

"Look Kor, if we shut down the system entirely-" Ellidy said in a hushed voice.

"We'd destroy Phage, but Nicole would perish as well..." He was clearly against that idea.

"That thing already controls my badniks. It's only a matter of time before-"

"Now see that's the difference between you and me: I don't give up so easily..." The fox growled.

While the two bickered over a course of action, Phage watched in amusement. While Phage was an A.I. much like Nicole, she had no definite physical form. She was just an ominous black cloud of particles that could absorb anything it touched. The malicious A.I. had Nicole surrounded in a barrier to prevent her from moving. Nicole growled inwardly at the fact she didn't see this coming earlier. All the signs were there, but Phage was just too elusive for her to track, and apparently more powerful than she originally thought. Nicole tried to quarantine her, but Phage easily broke free. Currently, the lynx was thinking for a way to escape, but was broken from her thoughts when Phage chuckled.

"It seems you are quite the hostage. But, how would they know if you were gone? I could easily take your form and take them down from the inside..." To prove her point, Phage formed into a little mock-up of Nicole. She nailed just about every physical feature, save for the mask that hid her face.

Something inside Nicole snapped. Phage might mock her, keep her captive, and what have you, but Nicole would be damned if she let Phage use her identity to hurt her friends. "No...you...WON'T!" The lynx yelled as she cast a powerful wave of energy that broke Phage's hold on her and pushed the evil A.I. back.

Phage was slightly startled, but was by no means intimidated by that little display. "Well, it seems you are more capable than I perceived you to be. But..." She towered over the lynx, frightening her a bit. "That won't stop me from getting what I want..."

Hairs standing on end, Nicole flew off into the system. She had to find some way to defeat Phage, or else she'd become nothing but pixel dust...

In the lab, Kor and Ellidy were a bit confused when Phage was pulled away from the screen, but then they both saw a message from Nicole. "Kor, evading Phage. Get the emerald from the lake, save the planet..." The fox read aloud.

"Kor!" The engineer looked towards the door. "The badniks aren't fighting the monsters! They're all trying to break in!" Tails shouted.

Behind the kit, Sally was trying to keep the door shut. They both pushed whatever furniture was in the room up to the front door and pushed a book case to block the window. Sally's body vibrated whenever the monsters bashed themselves against the door.

"Tails, listen good. This virus called Phage is after a chaos emerald in the Lake of Rings. I don't have to tell you and Sally how important it is to retrieve it first..."

"But what about you guys?!"

"Just go! Sally knows the way."

"O-Ok...Sally, we gotta get to the lake!"

"Alright. Oof!" Another monster rammed the door. "I hope this barricade will hold..." Sally and Tails ran into the garage before they powered up the hovercraft. Not bothering to wait for the door to open, they just rammed through it and sped as fast as they could to the lake.

"You know what they say about jumping out of the frying pan?..." Ellidy asked.

"I'm well familiar with that, and if we don't deal with Phage soon, we're all gonna be in serious trouble here..." Kor said before he looked towards the digitizer bed. He also spotted a camera mounted on the wall before he shot it to pieces.

"What was that for?!" Ellidy asked in shock.

"So Phage doesn't see what we're doing. It's clear Nicole can't stop Phage by herself, and I already made a promise to her..." He handed Ellidy his shotgun. "I doubt you're good with firearms, but if those things break in, use it."

The old lynx held the gun awkwardly. "Wait, what are you going to do?!"

"I'm gonna solve this problem _directly_..."

 **-Inside Ellidy's system-**

Nicole flew as fast as she could through the digital landscape. She tried to retreat to her PDA, but Phage already blocked that escape route. Now, all she could do was run. Some of Phage's monsters tried to block her path, but she gave them a powerful shock that caused them to dissipate. All the while, Phage's voice haunted her no matter where she went.

A shiver went down Nicole's spine as Phage chuckled. "Do you really think you can run away? It's futile. Pointless. I control this _entire system_ Nicole. There is no where you can run that I won't find you. I don't have a cozy little handheld like you. I'm _everywhere_. I'm not contained by any mere server either. I've infected hundreds of systems, absorbing _everything_. Their resources, their processing power, all of it linked directly to my core. And once I absorb you, so will you be linked to me."

Nicole frantically looked around and saw a large box with lasers protecting the opening. On a monitor, this would be a folder that needs administrative access to be opened. Nicole slipped through the gaps in the defense, catching her breath.

"You know you can't outlast me. Have you _pretended_ to be alive for so long you've actually learned to fear death?" Phage's voice mocked her.

The lynx really wished the malicious program had a mute button. Nicole looked around her hiding place and saw various pictures that were saved to the folder. All of them contained pictures of Ellidy and Nikki at some location, ranging from doing fun activities to winning an award at a science fair. Nicole didn't know who Nikki was, but she was startled by how similar she looked to herself. Before she could dwell on it further, Phage broke through the wall she as hiding behind.

"I told you: hiding is _futile_." Phage sneered.

In desperation, Nicole shot a blast of energy at Phage. Amused, the cloud with a face shot her own beam to counter. Phage increased her own power until the point she overpowered Nicole and shot her out of the building. The lynx screamed before she landed in a heap, sporting a few scraps. Nicole started to stand up as a shadow loomed over her. She glanced up, fear written all over her features.

"It's over Nicole. You have no where to run, no where to hide, and no one to help you." Phage mocked once more, taking note of her frightened expression. "There's no need to fear me Nicole." The A.I. said in a sweet, yet misleading voice. "Think of it as a transition to a greater whole. I promise it won't hurt." A wicked grin appeared behind the mask.

Nicole felt herself experiencing what she believed others would call 'having your life flash before your eyes'. She remembered everything, from her previous existence to her current one. Despite all the power Nicole had, Phage was right...she had her trapped, and none of her friends could do a thing to help her. She had a good grasp on the concept of death, and she didn't want to go out like this, but again, there was little she could do to stop Phage. A tear slid down Nicole's cheek as she closed her eyes and prepared for the worst.

Phage was about to wrap her appendages around the little lynx when a large amount of pain suddenly shot through her back. Her scream was loud enough to force Nicole to open her eyes. Standing in front of her protectively, was Kor.

"You ain't layin' a tentacle on her you Satan's spawn! If you want Nicole, you gotta _kill_ me first!" He growled. He was only armed with just his giant wrench.

"Well if it isn't the person who made my existence possible." Phage grinned despite the pain.

"What are you going on about?..." The fox demanded.

"If it wasn't for your constant hacking intrusions into my master's systems, he would have never thought of creating me. I should thank you, but, it'd be more enticing to kill you."

The engineer grinned. "Try me."

Phage did a low swing at him, which Kor jumped to dodge. She tried to swat him with two hands, but the fox either smacked them away or tore into them with the blade portion of the wrench. While that happened, the A.I. brought another arm straight down at him, and not having time to dodge, he just blocked it with his wrench.

Nicole was still surprised that Kor suddenly appeared in the system, until she recalled their discussion earlier that day. He made her a promise, and he was intending to keep it even if he was under-gunned. The lynx realized she had a chance to escape, but she knew Kor wouldn't last long while Phage was in her element. While Kor was holding Phage at bay, Nicole noticed an opening on Phage's back when Kor tore into her. Summoning a pitchfork, she angled it at the A.I. while she was distracted before she swung her hand down.

The weapon managed to pierce Phage's core, causing the program to howl in pain. The A.I. dropped to the floor, her mask cracking upon impact.

Kor breath a sigh of relief. "Thanks Nikki. Now let's put her down before she can get back up." He gripped his wrench. Nicole hesitated for a moment before she nodded and summoned another pitchfork. However, before the two could get close, Phage growled in which such ferocity they backed up instead.

"You...insolent...savage...rude..." Energy began radiating out of her. One of the beams shocked Kor a bit before Nicole pulled him back. "I'LL TEAR YOU DOWN TO THE LAST BIT OF CODING!" Phage shouted, now even bigger than she was previously.

The couple sweatdropped, their ears flat on their heads. "Uh...Nicole?" Kor asked nervously.

"Y-Yes?"

"Any ideas?..."

"Running would be the best option right now..."

"Yeah...let's-" Kor didn't finish as Nicole grabbed his hand before speeding through the system, a very enraged A.I. pursing them.

 **-Isolated Island Lake of Rings-**

Tails and Sally arrived at the lake shortly before Kor decided to enter the system. They had little time to find emerald before the corrupted badniks caught up.

"From what I last checked, the readings were coming from the lake itself. I'm gonna take a look before company shows up." Sally told him, taking off her blue jacket.

"Will you be ok?" Tails asked.

"Don't worry, I'll make this quick!" The princess replied. "Nothing like taking a second swim..."She muttered before taking a deep breath and diving off the pier.

As Tails watched, some of the badniks were beginning to arrive. The kit kicked and tail slashed a few of them, but there was little he could do to prevent some flying badniks from dropping fish robots into the lake. Sally spotted the yellow chaos emerald at the bottom of the lake, and she also noticed the fish badniks heading for it. She couldn't use her blades as she didn't want to risk electrocuting herself, so that just left her down to punches and kicks. She managed to grab the emerald before one of the badniks could reach it, then kicked off of it to swim towards the shore. A muffled cry left her as one of the robots bit into her leg before she kicked it off. Emerald tucked into her arm, Sally walked onto the shore, treading lightly as to not put too much pressure on her injured limb.

"You ok Sally?"

"Yeah...let's just get out of here before-" She stopped when she heard a crunching sound. The two stood in horror as Dark Gaia's minions tore the hovercraft to pieces. What's worse was that more badniks were converging on their location. The two looked at each other before taking defensive positions.

 **-Back in the system-**

Nicole flew around a corner before coming to a stop. "Phage is likely going to unleash her full power at this point..."

"I knew she was mad already when I struck her, but that...was something else..." Kor felt himself losing feeling in his hand. Looking down, the lynx was still holding onto it. "Uh...as much as I like holding your hand Nikki, can you let go?" He said sheepishly.

"Oh, sorry..." She blushed

The fox flexed his fingers a bit. "I probably shouldn't ask, but...how come you didn't run? I gave a chance to escape."

"I already tried, Phage wouldn't let me, but that's the logical explanation, not the _real_ one..."

"So what's the real one?"

"I didn't run because I couldn't stand the thought of leaving you to get hurt, or _worse_...I wouldn't ever forgive myself if that happened, so I acted..."

Kor's mouth formed a grin. "Recklessly?"

Nicole gave a smile. "Yes, I suppose. I don't even _like_ fighting...but in this instance, I'm willing to do so."

"You sure Nicole? It might get intense."

The lynx gave him a smirk. "Whenever you're involved, it's always going to be intense." This caused the fox to laugh.

"Heh heh, glad you're on board, but..." Kor peaked his head around, noticing a large number of Phage's minions roaming around. "A direct fight may be out. We're doing 6 to 1 odds here plus Phage...if I could fly like you did, we may have a chance."

"Kor, the digitizer interprets the system in a way that your mind can understand. In here, you _could_ fly, but you don't _believe_ you should be able to do so. It's a psychological block." Nicole explained.

"Great..." Kor groaned. "Only time I actually hate my usual thinking...but," He formed a grin. "I've always had a wild imagination. Alright, let's talk strats. Phage can prevent us from getting out to the real world, but what about the digital world?"

"It's still connected to this system, but what do you plan to do? You can't survive in any digital realm indefinitely, and Phage will follow us wherever we go..."

"And I plan to use that to my advantage." Kor stated, already formulating a plan.

"Your advan-...wait, Kor you can't be serious!"

"Trust me on this Nicole. Remember earlier when me and Tails were messing with those linked rings? I need you to create a pair for us. I got an idea to lure Ms. Cranky Pants out of here."

"Oh...alright but how can you be sure she'll follow you?"

The engineer chuckled. "I have a bad habit of pissing people off."

Not too far off, Phage was prowling through the system, searching for the two heroes. She was growing more and more irate as she couldn't pinpoint their location. "WHERE ARE YOU LITTLE WRETCHES?! BRATS! SCOUNDRELS!"

She was answered by a rocket to her backside. Even further enraged, she turned and spotted Kor near the entrance to the digital world. The fox managed to figure out how to spawn the weapons he'd usually carry. "I believe the correct term is _heroes_?" He smirked.

"YOU MEDDLESOME PEST!" The A.I. flew towards him.

Kor immediately ran for the exit, already wishing he took up Scout's job when he had the opportunity. That boy loved to take a break every now and then. "You missed your chance to get Ellidy's information, and you sure as hell ain't gettin' Nikki, _or_ me!" He shot another rocket at her before he exited. The engineer was greeted by the vast expense of the Digital World. In his opinion, Kor felt like he was part of an old show he used to watch, but he could see why Dr. Ellidy was so interested in this piece of the universe. Perhaps later the fox could make a second visit. Right now, he had to deal with Ms. Cranky Bitch, who just exited the system.

"What now Kor?! You couldn't stop me in the doctor's system! Do you honestly think you have a chance against me here?!"

"Nope." He smirked before he showed the A.I. what was on his wrist: a linked ring. "Nicole!"

On the other side of the entrance, Nicole stood with the other ring in her hand. She pulled hard as Kor flew back into the system, giving Phage a flip of the bird as he slipped past her. Phage stood dumbfounded for a moment. She couldn't believe she fell for such an obvious ploy. Oh was she going to enjoy ripping those two apart slowly when she got back in there...

"Alright Nicole, you lock her out, I'll keep these nuisances off your back." Kor ordered as his launcher converted itself into a minigun. The former mercenary proceeded to shoot Phage's minions as they got close.

Nicole summoned two barriers to seal the entrance, but Phage wasn't about to give up. She managed to stop the process just as it a few inches from closing. "How dare you! You can't stop me! You _won't_ stop me! You're _outdated_! Even when damaged, I'm faster _and_ stronger than you! The rings! The research! The chaos emerald! It will all belong to _me_! Do you think I care about the physical world?! If I don't bring back something of worth, Dr. Eggman will _never_ forgive me for my past mistakes!" She began to force the door open with each word she spoke. " So! Stop! Interfering!"

"Well I sure would _love_ to see your boss pull the plug on you!" Kor retorted as he continued to fire. He could see Nicole was struggling just to keep Phage from budging the door any further. Nicole tried to pull in as much power as she could, but she was already reaching her limit.

Inside the lab, Ellidy kept monitoring the whole situation. He heard Kor mutter some encouraging words to Nicole in spite of what was going on. The lynx shuddered when he heard the door break down. The corrupted badniks stared at him in anger. Looking between the Red Star Rings and Nicole's PDA, he knew what he needed to do, and he prayed it would work. He grabbed the rings, and before the robots could besiege him, Ellidy planted one on Nicole's PDA. The second the ring was installed, the small handheld shook as it took in the new power source.

Nicole felt its effects almost immediately. She felt herself radiating with power, and it also showed on her features. Her fur stood up as it turned pink along with her outfit. The edges of her gloves and boots grew new fringes as well as forming symbols that showed the Red Star Ring. Nicole only had to notice one of them to realize where this new source of energy was coming from. So much power was coming from her, that the entire environment of the system had changed back to its original form, Phage's minions disappearing as well.

"NO! THAT POWER! THAT RED STAR RING! IT'S SUPPOSED TO BE _MINE_!"

The lynx glared at the demonic A.I. "No, it's not, and you aren't welcome here." She summoned more energy into her hands. The barriers were turned into 12in steel that you'd see for a safe at a national bank. "Now...Get. OUT!" She yelled, slamming the entrance shut completely.

With Phage's influence no longer in the system, the badniks returned to normal. Upon doing so, they immediately starting tearing into the Dark Gaia monsters that considered them allies, much to the pleasure of Sally and Tails. The two were on their last legs as they were completely surrounded. Ellidy was also happy as his buddies stopped their hostile acts and just stared at him, wondering if he was ok.

Nicole breathed a heavy sigh of relief. Although Phage was locked out of the system, she was still a considerable threat, even with a damaged core. Hopefully, she won't have to deal with her again any time soon. The lynx smiled when she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Knew you could pull it off." Kor smiled. "And pink looks good on you by the way." He added with a smirk.

Nicole gave a small chuckle. "Thanks...but I only shut her out. Phage is still out there, but hopefully she won't be back any time soon."

"Well, if she does come back, she's gonna wish she hadn't. We owe you our lives Nikki."

"True, but _I_ owe you _mine_." She smiled sweetly. "And a lot more..." She winked at him.

"Ok, where are you getting your flirting tips from?"

"I'll never tell..." She smirked.

The fox snorted before a devious grin formed on his face. "Ok that's it. Come here." The engineer surprised the lynx when he pulled her close and kissed her full on the lips, making up for that little interruption earlier. Nicole's eyes widened before she relaxed and wrapped her arms around his neck, deepening it. Despite the fact Kor knew only his consciousness could feel this sweet sense of bliss, he didn't care. Ever since he got into the digital realm, Nicole's physical form felt more real than it did the real world, and that suited him just fine. However, the engineer knew Nicole still longed to have an actual physical body, something he would make sure to work on in the future.

Kor parted when he felt he needed air. Like Nicole said earlier, his brainwave still thought logically. "I love you Nicole, and I won't be going anywhere like I did last time..." He told sweetly.

"I love you too, and I know you'll keep that promise..." She said lovingly.

 **A/N: And done. Yep, finally got those two back together. And this was a pretty long chapter. Hope you guys like it. Phage was a very interesting character that was added, essentially being Nicole's complete opposite. It'll be very interesting to see what that malware will do in the future, but that's for another time. This little group of heroes needs to regroup with the others first.**


	11. You Will Become the Monster

**nA/N: Hello folks. I apologize for the long delay on this story but you know how life is: work, not having inspiration to write, etc. Anyway, as you saw last time, Nicole managed to save Dr. Ellidy's system and lock Phage from the system. But, no rest for the wicked, as the small group will need to catch up with the others.**

 **Disclaimer: All characters belong to Sega and Archie except my OC.**

Sally and Tails arrived at the house with the yellow emerald a few minutes after the badniks chased of the monsters. Although it felt a little odd being saved by the very robots they destroy on a daily basis, it was nice to see them fending off Dark Gaia's minions. After opening the door, they saw Kor was lying face down on the couch. Nicole was in her physical form, stroking his head.

"Is Kor alright?" Sally asked. She got her answer when a soft snore met her ears.

"Yes, he's just mentally exhausted after coming out of the Digital Realm." The doctor told them. "And I see you've successfully retrieved the emerald!"

"Yeah. We were completely surrounded, but then the badniks started to help us." Tails explained.

"What did you guys do in there?"

"Phage had me cornered, but Kor popped in at the last moment. We managed to lure her out of the system, but Phage wouldn't go quietly...she would've made it back in had Dr. Ellidy not hook up a Red Star Ring to my system. I've never felt such a large amount of energy before...but it was more than enough to lock Phage out completely." The A.I. explained.

"So the emerald was what was causing these rings to form. I supposed it would make sense considering their power. With it removed, I doubt the lake will produce another of these rare gems." Ellidy gave a yawn. "After everything that happened tonight, I think I'll call it a night..."

"I think all of us could." Sally agreed.

Tails stored the yellow emerald in a bag before he and Sally hit they hay. Nicole was the only one still awake. She could go into Standby, but she knew she couldn't even if she wanted to. There was just too much on her mind right now. The engineer unconsciously rolled onto his side and fidgeted a bit before he had a comfortable position. The lynx gently kissed his cheek before she walked to the window. Staring at the partially broken moon, she thought about the files she saw while she hid from Phage. Nikki...the person who was supposed to be what she is now, but unfortunately never had a chance at life due to how limited Nicole was back then. It was because of this unfortunate set of circumstances that Nicole eventually became who she was today. It would explain why she chose a lynx as her physical form, and why Ellidy had been distant since they met. If the doctor wished to have limited interaction, well, she wouldn't blame him...

 **-The Following Morning-**

Now well rested and wide awake, the group was currently on their way to Apotos. Before they left, Kor and Ellidy had a talk about what happened last night, and the doctor admitted he wasn't being fair to Nicole. As a gift, Ellidy gave one of the Red Star Rings to Nicole so she could keep it for personal use (plus he said it'd be a while before his lab was back in order). He also gave the heroes the other red ring for safe keeping. Not only that, but the engineer and doctor had a friendly discussion about robotics, with Kor even showing him pictures of the two he had in service. Ellidy was surprised by this and started a long string of questions, but unfortunately for him the heroes had to leave. Kor promised to keep in touch though.

The red fox sat on the right wing while Sally and Nicole, in her lynx form, sat on the left. The lynx had her arms spread with a smile on her face as the wind blew her hair in the breeze. She gave a grin when she caught her boyfriend staring at her.

"Well, that was fun." Kor stated, looking at the island as it faded in the distance.

"By 'fun' you mean perilous?" Nicole asked.

"That, and generally fun. I honestly thought it'd be a little boring."

"Nothing is ever boring as a Freedom Fighter." The princess smiled. "Especially for us."

"Or when Sonic is leading." The engineer smirked. "How long is it gonna be before we get there?"

"About quite a long time. We should get there hopefully by mid afternoon." Tails stated.

The red fox groaned. "Longest flight of my life..." He scratched at his arm. "And for some reason I'm feeling a little itchy..."

"You don't have fleas do you?" Sally asked.

"Pfft, no...think it's the bite wound..."

He hadn't noticed it before, but the wounds began to flare up last night. Even his leg was being irritated. The others looked at each other in worry. Sonic was a monster when he first became a werehog, but what would happen to Kor if _he_ turned? When you take into account his history of violence and bloodshed...they hoped to God he wouldn't turn into something even they couldn't handle...

 **-Hours later: Apotos-**

Sonic, Antoine, and Chip were sent in to meet Gregarios, and it seemed Eggman had taken an interest as well. The minute they arrived, they had to deal with a large force of Egg Swats and general badniks, nothing too difficult. They eventually found the old man in a rather old building that served as a museum. Turns out, the building was actually a gateway to the 7 Gaia Temples scattered around the planet. Each temple required specific key to be accessed, and the keys were entrusted to a select few people under complete secrecy. The good news was that even if Eggman located a temple, he could not gain entrance, but the hard part was that on top of finding the 7 emeralds, 7 keys were needed as well, and if Eggman learned of this information, it could prove to be disastrous for everyone involved, especially since Greg revealed that Metal Sonic was interrogating him before it had been called elsewhere.

However, finding the remaining emeralds, or emerald rather, would be easy as the heroes now had 6 considering the one found at Isolated Island. The trio left the building as night began to fall.

"Thanks for the info Greg. We'll keep an eye out for those keys." Sonic told him.

"Maybe finding the keys will help me regain my memories too!" Chip shouted with joy.

"That, and-" Sonic stopped before doubling over in slight pain, a familiar purple mist enveloping him. He regained his composure once he finished his nightly change. "And I can stop turning into _this_ every night..."

"Zat will be relieving. It gives me ze fright every time, and zat musky smell..." The swordsman pinched his nose, causing Sonic to give a deadpanned look at him. They all then heard a scream of terror, meaning only one thing.

"I'll also be glad when we're done with these nightly monster attacks. Let's go Ant." Sonic said, running on all fours.

They came across a crowd running in fear as the small gaia monsters tore after them. Sonic immediately pounced on one that was trying to rip a man to pieces while Antoine slashed a few in a single pass. Since they were the lesser monsters, the two had an easy time dealing with them. However, the monsters still outnumbered them 6 to 1.

"Heh, these monsters aren't too spooky for you Ant?"

"Oh, I'm _quite_ terrified, but I can, how you say, 'deal with it'."

The coyote was soon scared out of his wits when both he and the hedgehog felt a strong vibration ripple through the ground. Just down the street, a Dark Gaia Titan was lumbering towards them, a giant club in its hand.

"Uh...can you handle _that_?" Sonic asked, rather surprised by the monster's size.

"I am really wishing I didn't have to!" Antoine said nervously, knees buckling. He practically jumped out of his skin when a _second_ Dark Gaia Titan smashed through a wall close to them. " _Zut Alors!"_

"Chip! Call Rotor! We need backup!" Sonic yelled, before rolling to the side as a giant club impacted the ground where he'd been standing a second ago.

Chip nervously fiddled with the communicator. "Come on come on, pick up! Hello?!" After what seemed like an eternity, which was really a few seconds, Rotor's face finally appeared.

"Hey Chip! What's up?"

"We need help down here! There's these two big scary monsters, and I don't think Sonic and Antoine can handle them alone!"

"Alright, I'll send the others. Sally's group should also be there momentarily." The walrus stated.

Chip jumped a few feet off the ground as another vibration rocketed through the earth. When he turned, the Light Gaia saw Sonic had lifted Antoine out of the way of another club swing. The Titan ended up crushing one of its own, but it didn't seem to care. Sonic attempted to deal with the two hulks while Antoine dealt with the smaller horde. Even with his new strength, it was difficult dealing with one of them, let alone two. Thankfully, Sonic didn't have to wait long as Bunnie, Amy, Knuckles, and Julie-Su came flying in, temporarily distracting them.

"Havin' fun Sugar-Hog? Sal said her team is closin' in!" Bunnie stated as she fired a volley of lasers.

"Yeah, thanks guys." The werehog smiled.

"Great, more of these things..." Knuckles groaned.

"Friend of yours?" Julie asked.

"Unfortunately...the Chaotix and I had to fight one to get the red emerald."

"How'd you guys beat it?" Sonic asked.

The red echidna shrugged. "Um...we tricked Bean into bombing the crap out of it, then I punched it lots?..."

" _Punch it lots_ it is!" Sonic beat his chest in approval, causing the guardian to chuckle.

"I like this version of you."

The team went to work dealing with monsters. Antoine and Bunnie continued to hold back the smaller monsters, though for every one that died, two more took its place. Knuckles and Sonic tackled one while Amy and Julie-Su attacked the other. A minute later, Sally, Tails, and Kor joined in. The princess and kit assisted the two powerhouses while Kor assisted the ladies. Knuckles and Sonic managed to wound their titan enough to expose its chest, revealing a shard of the Master Emerald. There was probably another in the second titan. During the fight, some of the smaller monsters tried to assist their larger brethren, but Kor stepped in to prevent this. During the scuffle, one managed to bite him on the shoulder, and this time it stung like hell. He held the wound as he felt some blood beginning to seep out.

"Damn little shits are really pissin' me off..." He groaned.

Behind him, the titan managed to beat back Amy's hammer and smack her into Julie, temporarily stunning them. It then turned its attention to Kor, who was still preoccupied with trying to treat his wound. He paused as he saw a shadow loom over him. Turning his head, the fox's pupils shrank as the giant club came at him fast. The fox was beaned into the side of a building before he fell face first to the ground, unmoving. Amy and Julie managed to pick themselves up in time to witness this, and the others saw it as well. Seeing as the second team needed support, Sally had Tails move to attack this titan while she went to see if the engineer was stil breathing. Knuckles and Sonic started trying to pry the emerald shard from the first titan.

Unknown to anyone, a drastic change was happening to their stricken friend. Kor felt nothing but pure anger and a heightened sense for blood. He was going to make that titan, and every single monster he saw pay, with their lives. Chest and back in pain, he still managed to summon the strength to try to stand, rather slowly. He got to his knees but couldn't get up any further as his entire body felt like it was burning. His eyes clenched shut as it was becoming unbearable.

Sally ran over and knelt down. "You ok Kor?!"

"Everything...burns!..." Was all he could say. Sally was a little confused by this, but then a purple mist began to surround the red fox. The princess' eyes widened, and she stepped back cautiously. Nicole questioned what was happening, to which the chipmunk just turned her screen towards him.

Kor snarled as he felt himself changing into...well he didn't know what it was but it was agonizing. His body grew a bit in size, and his fur changed color to the point it looked close to black. His gloves had ripped off, showing sharp claws forming, similar to Sonic's, and his teeth turned into razors. As the change continued, his voice sounded less and less like himself, being replaced by a deep toned and feral growl. His tool belt snapped off, and his pants looked ready to tear away as well, but surprisingly they didn't. Unable to withstand it any longer, he let out a roar that shook everyone that heard it to their core.

Everyone, including the monsters, temporarily stopped to look where the source of the sound emerged. The heroes became shocked at seeing Kor becoming what some may assume a werefox. The engineer opened his eyes, where instead of being white with blue irises, they were red and with the center of his eyes glowing yellow. As he stood up to his full height, Kor was only a roughly close to half a foot taller than he usually was. Still snorting and growling, the angered fox looked around for a few seconds. Sally flinched in terror when those eyes gauzed in her direction, but he didn't attack her. His eyes finally landed on the monster that struck him, and only one thing registered in his mind: **KILL**.

Giving off another bone chilling yell, the fox ran towards the beast at surprising speeds. Shrugging off this surprise, the titan was prepared and swung at him. Kor instinctively rolled to the side and jumped onto the titan's back, using his claws to dig into it and stiffened his tail to keep balance. The titan tried to reach him, even trying to beat him off with the club but the fox constantly changed position.

"Sally? What do we do now?..." Amy asked, still watching the fight. The ground shaking was an indication that the other titan was also attacking as well.

"I-It seems Kor is keeping it distracted for now, but there's still smaller monsters around. We'll target those first. The others look like that can handle the other big guy..." Sally stated. The princess glanced at Nicole's PDA. She had been silent for a bit.

The A.I. was still utterly shocked at what Kor turned into. From the way he as fighting and his ferocity...he was completely unlike himself. It seemed as if he had little regard for self-preservation and his only focus was to just destroy whatever was in front of him. She tried to find the words to say anything, but the only thing registering to her was shock and fear.

"Nicole? Nicole, you ok?" Sally asked, shaking the lynx from her thoughts.

"I-I-I...I don't know...what are we going to do about Kor? We can't just leave him in the state he's in..."

The princess flinched again upon hearing that bone chilling roar. "I'll figure out something, but we have other things to worry about..." She readied one of her blades as a few smaller monsters approached.

With the other group, Sonic was still trying to pry the emerald shard from the titan while Knuckles beat it back. However, the darn thing simply refused to budge. Even with his arms stretched out, the werehog still couldn't get it lose. Antoine, who had grown frustrated from all the fighting and being constantly scared out of his wits, mustered up whatever courage he had left and ran up the hedgehog's arm. The swordsman shoved his sword into the titan's chest and, like a crowbar, he pried the shard loose, causing the titan to lose considerable power. Bunnie caught the shard while Sonic and Knuckles went to work, tearing away at the beast before finally knocking its head off. One down, one to go.

Sonic looked at the other monster. It was covered in claw and bite marks as it managed to throw Kor off once again, but the stubborn fox just jumped back on and continued his assault. The hedgehog grew a frown as he watched the scene. Although he was substantially bigger than Kor, he didn't know what kind of weird abilities the fox now possessed. And those red eyes would give anyone nightmares if you stared into them long enough.

"Ready for round two?" Sonic asked the guardian.

Knuckles beat his namesakes together. "Always ready."

While Kor distracted the titan, the duo jumped at its chest and began tearing it away. After a few seconds, another shard was shown to be inside the beast. This time, Knuckles punched his way in and tore the shard out. The monster immediately began to feel weak, and the last thing it saw was the open maw of an angry fox. Kor bit into its head and kept at it until it was nothing but pieces. The engineer spat out the remains and shook his head vigorously, obviously indicating how bad it tasted. The large remains dissipated, and the smaller monsters were easily taken care of by Tails, Sally, Amy, and Julie-Su.

Once the monsters were gone, all eyes fell on Kor, who stood idle where the last titan fell. All that was heard from him were his constant growling and heavy breathing. Those piercing red eyes gazed upon them all, and they weren't sure whether he was just watching them or deciding on who to strike first. Amy, Julie-Su, and Knuckles had their guard up as a precaution, and Sonic decided to approach him. If he tried anything, he could easily handle him. He had been where Kor is before. Hell, the fox even witnessed it himself, so it couldn't be that hard to bring him to his senses right?

"Hey buddy, you alright?" He asked. The fox focused on Sonic and growled in response. "Right...look Kor, I know you must be feeling angry right now, but you can't let that stuff control you. You remember what happened with me right?"

"Sonic's right Kor. We can help you get over this. We'll even take you to Moss if we need to." Sally added.

"Just try to fight it man. We're here for you." The werehog put a hand on the engineer's shoulder.

This turned out to be a bad idea as this notion just caused Kor to snap. A fierce glare overtook his face as he yelled and lunged at the werehog. Sonic was taken aback by this and was knocked onto his back, though he quickly kicked the angered fox off. "Geez, calm down with the attitude! I'm just trying to help!"

His words fell on deaf ears as the fox lunged at him again, forcing the werehog to leap over him. As the two kept fighting, well more like Sonic dodging and Kor trying to bite him, the others were at a loss on what to do.

"Well great, Kor's completely off his rocker..." Julie-Su groaned.

Amy gripped her hammer tightly. "What now? I don't want to hurt him, but I don't want him to hurt Sonic either."

Sally opened her mouth to give her own input, but at that moment Rotor called again. "What's going on? Do you guys need any more help?"

"Uh, we're trying to sort this out." The chipmunk replied.

"Sort what out?" Sally turned the screen and showed him what she was talking about. "Kor turned too?!"

"Yeeeeah..." A loud crash was heard. "I'm gonna you back..." The chipmunk ended the line.

Kor had Sonic pinned again, and the werehog was holding him up while the fox's jaws snapped menacingly close. Grunting slightly, the Hero of Mobius tossed him to the side. "I don't wanna hurt you Kor, but I will if you don't quit it!"

Incresingly irritated, the fox did someone no one expected him to do. He took a deep breath and let out a roar so loud, everyone had to cover their ears. It was also strong enough to crack the glass on a few nearby windows. Sonic gritted his teeth as the ringing in his ears began to fade. The hedgehog was getting fed up with this charade. Opening his eyes, Kor wasn't in front of him, but one quick look to the right and the crazy mobian was about to pounce him again. Dodging backwards, he stretched his arms out and grabbed Kor before lifting him up him. The fox bit his arm but Sonic elected to ignore the pain. Angered, he slammed Kor hard into the street, which seemed to stop his rampage cold. The engineer gave a whined response as he groaned in pain.

"Sorry buddy, but you had that coming. Now can you at least _try_ to get past all that anger?" The hedgehog folded his arms.

Kor rolled onto his stomach and sat on his knees. He glared at the werehog for a few seconds before putting a hand to his face. A few tense moments passed, nothing heard except for Sonic's tired breaths and Kor's heavy growling. Giving a heavy sigh, the fox finally spoke. As expected, his voice was rather deep, almost sinister sounding. "Sorry...I had so much rage I think I blacked out for a bit..." His eyes remained the same, but he didn't look angry.

"You ok?" Tails asked.

"No? I'm a crazed killer with a metric ton of rage and anger! What if I'm stuck like this _all_ the time?!" Kor stated in a panicked tone.

"Oh would you relax? I changed about a week ago and turned out fine."

Kor gave the hedgehog a deadpanned look. "You almost killed Mighty..."

"And it all worked out right?"

Rotor called again. "Everything good down there?"

"We're good Rot. All the monsters went home for tonight." The werehog told him.

"Except this one..." Kor pointed out, now looking at one of his hands.

"You aren't a monster Kor." Julie stated. "While you may change physically, that doesn't change who you really are."

"Still doesn't excuse the fact he tried to bite Sonic's head off..." Amy pointed out.

"Also, your breath smelled." Sonic smirked, causing the fox to growl.

Antoine decided to put an end to this. "Before we get off topic, we 'ave found some rather important information from our collegue."

"Oh, right. Along with finding the emeralds, we need to find these 7 Gaia keys too." The werehog stated.

"Annnnd, we got a list of all the people we need to talk to, so it'll be super easy to find the keys, and we can use a super magic shortcut to all the Gaia Temples!" Chip explained.

"Wait, so does that mean we know where all the temples are now?" Amy asked.

The Blue Blur shook his head. "We don't need to know. We just gotta bring the keys here so we can get to them all from one spot."

"And finding the rest of the emeralds shouldn't be difficult. While we were at Isolated Island we picked up another emerald." Sally pointed out.

"Then that means we wouldn't have to divide our attention. So Knuckles, I'll be able to go with you and we can find the shards quicker. Maybe then we can save Angel Island before the world is fixed." Amy cheered.

The guardian smiled. "Best news I've heard all day."

"Wait, you're leaving us?" Sonic asked.

"Just until the Master Emerald is restored." The pink hedgehog replied.

"What's wrong shaggy? Jealous?" Knuckles smirked, causing the werehog to glare at him.

"Don't even start with me Knuckle-Head."

"When did you two come up with that plan?" Kor asked.

Amy leaned on her hammer. "Knuckles can only detect the shards when he's a few miles from them, but thanks to Mystic Melody, I can sense them much farther."

"And I'll be going with them incase they need the extra help." Julie-Su stated.

"Heh, didn't know Knuckles needed someone to watch after him." Sonic fired, causing Knuckles to return a glare.

"Two people who specialize in close combat sounds nice, but you'll need someone with _range_ to cover all your bases." The former soldier explained.

"Sounds about right." Kor agreed.

Bunnie realized she was still holding onto one of the shards. "Oh, sorry Knuckles. Catch." She tossed it, which the echidna caught.

"Thanks. Two down, a bunch to go..."

 **-30 minutes later-**

After Knuckles, Amy, and Julie-Su bid their goodbyes, the group returned to the heroic flying fortress. In a funny, yet terrifying moment, Hornet almost shot its own creator to pieces upon seeing his new form. Thankfully, everyone else manage to convince the drone it was Kor, which it also identified after getting a good look at him. Rotor was initially shocked upon seeing the fox up close, but calmed down soon enough. Big didn't seem to care, but sadly, the engineer's appearance scared Cream and Cheese to the point they hid from him. Bunnie tried to get them to come out, but it didn't seem to work, well besides Cheese almost beaning the fox in the head. Kor told her not to bother since he assumed they'd come out when they're ready.

At the moment, Nicole was running scans on the engineer in the med bay upon Kor's request. The others weren't too concerned as they were sure he was in the same boat with Sonic, but Kor wanted to make sure he was fine. He didn't experience any bouts of aggression like the hedgehog had beforehand, and his change was rather sudden. After all, unlike Sonic, who was just exposed to a gaseous substance of Dark Gaia, Kor was bitten at least 5 times.

His claws gripped the seat slightly, causing small tears. Physically he seemed to be the opposite of Sonic. Instead of being large and muscular, Kor was slim and quite maneuverable, and while Sonic could stretch his arms, the fox could emit a powerful scream.

The A.I. was in her physical form looking at a blood sample. She had a copy of Sonic's blood next to his. Unlike the hedgehog's, there was something odd with Kor's cells. "Well, good news is that it appears you're in the same situation as Sonic: just changing every night. It also appears Dark Gaia energy affects people based on what abilities they have."

"What do you mean by that?"

"According to Sonic, his speed was turned into strength. With you...I've reasoned that based on your past as being a mercenary, and having little issue with 'offing' people for lack of a better word, your body has changed to allow you to ambush potential enemies. However, there's more though...after looking at your blood cells, you might still be changing..."

"So you're saying I might become something _even worse_?..."

"We don't know that Kor...Sonic was only exposed to a gas variant of this energy, yet his transformation only went so far. A substance like this is highly unpredictable, you might change differently the coming nights, or you might get a new ability. It's something even I can't calculate..." This didn't help the situation at all as Kor just looked dejectedly at the floor. The lynx sighed and sat next to him. "Kor...remember what Julie-Su said earlier? No matter what you turn into physically, it can't change who you really are on the inside. If Sonic can make his new appearance work, I'm sure-no...I _know_ you will. Out of the many battles you've had in your life, how many of them put you in a bad situation?"

"More than I can count."

"And even if you were in said situation, you didn't let that stop you right?"

"No?"

"Then what is there to stop you from getting the most out of your new appearance?" She smiled.

"Killing someone on accident if I lose myself..."

Nicole understood his point. "But you're not gonna let that happen right?"

"Yeah..." The fox looked over at a mirror that was on the wall. "I wonder why my eyes turned a hellish red while Sonic's remained normal. I look like one of those rage zombies from the movies."

"Like I said before, it seems Dark Gaia's energy affects people differently. However, this could benefit you and Sonic as a whole."

Kor took a moment to think. "Sonic's strength is certainly nothing to sneeze at, and while he's keeping any opposition distracted, I can flank around to attack a weak spot. I'll have to put that into practice though." He grinned.

The lynx chuckled. "There's my happy engineer. Feelin' better now?"

"Yeah...you sure don't seem terrified like everyone else though."

Nicole looked at him directly in the eyes. "That's because I know it's the _real_ you talking to me. I will admit I was initially shocked, but I've grown past it." A small beep from her PDA let her know that the power ring hooked to her was about to run dry. "My ring is going to run out soon. Mind taking me to the command room before you head to bed?"

Kor smiled. "Sure thing."

The lynx kissed him on the nose before her physical form gave out. Kor grabbed her PDA before walking out of the medical room. Perhaps becoming a monster wouldn't be so bad, but if he was still changing...what would happen then?

 **A/N: And that's the end of that. I was debating on whether to have Kor become something like the Rabid Heavy or what I wrote into the story as it is, and I find that having him as a slim, quick hunter compliments Sonic's superiorly strong werehog. Plus, it also opens the idea of having Dark Gaia energy having different effects instead of turning people into simple were-mobians as I've seen in tons of fan art.**

 **Hope you all enjoyed this one, and bonus points if you can tell where I got the title from.**


	12. Good Key Hunting Pt 1

**A/N: And chapter 12 pulls into the station! So, the heroes now know they need to collect not only the emeralds, but** ** _seven_** **keys. Talk about a long shopping list. At least they know where the keys are. However, some old information will come to light, as well as a few surprises. Sorry if the beginning seems rushed.**

 **Disclaimer: All characters belong to Sega and Archie except my OC.**

Over the past few days the heroes have been working diligently to find and secure the Gaia Keys, traveling from one location to another. Sonic and Rotor went after the first key, which was in the frozen plains way up north. Apparently the Key Guardian was captured by the Egg Army in this section of the world, and shockingly, the Egg Boss was none other than Rotor's own _father_. The young walrus was rather disappointed by this turn of events, but if there's one thing he and the rest of the fighters could agree on, it was that they decided to fight back instead of becoming Eggman's personal puppets.

During this venture, Tails and Sally took Kor to Empire City to settle an important matter: getting the engineer some Extreme Gear. In terms of transportation he either used Hornet or hitched a ride with someone else, and considering how often the team would be to spread out it was starting to become an issue. The first thing they tested was obviously the hover board. Long story short, it went so disastrous it would probably end up on Jackass, and part of a store was set on fire. In the end, Kor opted for a bike instead. Thankfully, it wasn't hard picking one as there were a lot less bikes than boards. He chose one that looked like another bike known as the Hang-On, but had more of a Harley Davidson cruiser style than that of a Yamaha.

After this endeavor, the Freedom Fighters were over Northamer to find the Key Guardian on this continent. Several went down to search for it, leaving everyone else on the Sky Patrol. A noticeable amount of noise was coming from the hangar, where we see Rotor and Kor working on Terry, who was having its turret removed for a special project the engineer had in mind.

"Easy as she goes Kor." Rotor instructed.

"I know I know." Kor replied, gently managing the controls of a lift. "Annnnnnd, there we go." The lift moved the turret off to the side before setting it on a large platform. The engineer wiped his brow. "I forgot how long it takes to actually remove that darn thing..."

"Well why did you even decide to remove it in the first place?" Rotor asked.

"Well, it's been a long time since I gave Terry any updates, and the more I think about it, the more it seems like a deficiency to have it fire rockets from the missile silos. So recently, I bought an XM70E2 rocket launcher to fit into the turret. A little outdated, but I can find some use for it." He pulled out a set of blueprints and laid them on the table. "What I plan for Terry to do is be able to interchange its 30 mils to this big howitzer. It's gonna be 115mm of pure explosive power." Kor chuckled.

"And how exactly did you purchase this from the United Federation?"

"They owe me a few favors."

"Even so, how do you plan to fit this into the turret? Considering that this howitzer utilizes a rotary magazine, it would take up too much space, not to mention the size of the ammunition..."

"That's where innovation comes in Rot." Kor walked over to the large rocket shooter. "I plan to remove the rotary mag and put in place the usual standard magazine feed. However, the only hard part is widening the turret so the gun can fit _and_ increasing the size of the ammunition housings as the rockets will use the same feed the a 30mm ammunition uses. Once this is finished, Terry's lethality will increase by a factor of 10, and God help those who stand in its way..." He chuckled until he started to do an evil laugh.

"Kor, you're doing it again." Rotor said with an amused look.

The fox cleared his throat. "Apologies. Anyway..." He grabs a blow torch toolkit and a safety visor. "Time for me to get to work." With a few flicks, the torch is ignited and ready for use.

With that, Rotor left the fox to his own devices. He needed to go back to monitoring the Sky Patrol's systems anyway. The red fox sunk into his work, managing to sod off the rotary magazine and began installing the belt feeder. He also remembered to add armor to it so someone didn't get the idea to blow this important mechanism. Doing so could shut down Terry's turret entirely. Kor so was in-tuned to his work he didn't notice the hangar doors open until he noticed the sun's golden rays on the wall.

"Hey Kor, whatcha workin' on this time?" Sonic asked, holding a strange looking key.

"Oh, finally giving Terry some much needed love. And by that, I mean a new gun." He stated, tapping the large howitzer.

"When'd you find the time to get this?" Sally asked, inspecting it cautiously.

"Got it while you guys were gone, and..." He looked over at Bunnie. "You get into another fight?"

"Yeah...met one of the Egg Bosses in this area, but on the bright side..." She showed him the blue chaos emerald.

"Niiiice. Wait, isn't that the same one we lost a while back?"

"Yep. Turns out it crashed in this area. We wouldn't know about it if Chip didn't point it out." The Blue blur stated, nudging the spirit.

"Ah it was nothing." He said bashfully.

"We also had to deal with another of Eggman's E-100s. I had an idea of how to get rid of it, but Sonic just lured it into the Thunder Plains." The princess put her board against the wall. "That was one indication that the emerald may have been there."

"I see...what did this one look like?"

The hedgehog shrugged. "Eh, giant flying saucer with eyes and shoots lightning like fireworks."

"Hmm..." Kor rubbed his chin. "Sounds like E-118 Tau. Was right next to Hornet's blueprint." Suddenly, the fox had a massive headache coming on. "Ugh...Grrr!..." He growled in annoyance.

"Oh right, sunset." Sonic groaned, feeling a slight pain in his chest as he was surrounded by Dark Gaia mist. Unlike him, Kor changed differently over the last few days. No longer being covered in mist, he instead got a big headache as his new form took shape. His light breathing began to sound heavier and heavier as hands turned to claws, eyes became that hauntingly red color, and his fur became darker and bushier. His pants didn't tear thanks to getting a larger size for such occasion, and he stopped wearing his boots due to this. Thanks to the Freedom Fighter's efforts, Kor was _almost_ used to this change, as he still had his moments.

"I think I'd prefer changing the way you do than getting a headache that could split a coconut...anyways, where do we go next?"

"Based on our location and known information, our next best choice would be Mid-Esta." Nicole told them.

Kor gave a small laugh. "I wonder if the Egg Army there is still living in fear of the 'Triple Threat'."

"Which is why you're going with us this time." Sonic smirked.

"Wait, why?" Kor asked, clearly stumped.

"Easy. If they see you, those Eggheads might be too afraid to fight us, making getting the key all too easy."

Kor tapped the unlit torch to his head in thought. "Seems it'd be worth it. Maybe just seeing Hornet in the air will make 'em piss their pants, heh heh heh. So when do we leave?"

"As soon as you can. I'll alert Big and Antonie as well. In the mean time, we'll see if we can find that last emerald." Sally ordered before she along with Nicole and Bunnie continued further into the ship.

"Greaaaaat, and I was hoping to get more time to work on Terry..."

"Ah relax, you'll get all the time in the world once we finish. Sounds boring if you ask me." The werehog stretched his limbs.

"Says he who prefers to run." Kor gave a friendly smile.

Within minutes, Antoine and Big arrived as Kor finished getting Hornet ready. Sonic, in his usual nature, tapped his foot impatiently with Chip amusingly mimicking him. The group rode on their respective extreme gear while Hornet followed close behind.

"Do you zhink it vill be zat easy?"

"Eh, why not? We got muscle, brains, and firepower so what's there to worry about?" Sonic replied.

"I think this will be fun." Big added.

"I'm still wondering how they'll take my surprise visit." Kor smirked.

"Oui, zat old incident you described years ago. I am hoping not to see zhose ruins again..." The swordsman shuttered.

 **-The Next Day-**

They arrived in Mid-Esta around dawn, at which Sonic and Kor's night forms disappeared. The hedgehog laminated on how it would've been easier to just fly the Sky Patrol over here then disembark but Kor pointed out the heavily contested air space and air defense zones the Egg Army had. Plus, it was stealthier and the Sky Patrol has a radar cross-section the size of Texas. Not only that, the Hero of Mobius still didn't want anyone to see him as a werehog. Hornet was lagging behind by 20 miles but it would catch up soon. As luck would have it, the key guardian was living in Shamar, which brought back mixed memories to the group. And to add to that...

"Look around ya fellas, the infamous Highway of Death!" Kor boasted, much to Antoine's charging.

As he fondly remembered, the burned husks of vehicles both civilian and military alike were still strewn about, making the highway look more like an old scrap yard. The area still smelt of smoke, gunpowder, and death. All of the trashed vehicles had been pushed off to the sides so nothing could obstruct traffic, but the sheer size of this 'boneyard' still served as a testament of the amount of firepower a certain crazed fox could bring to bear if he willed it. Taking one look around, considering the amount of time that passed since, and taking into account the amount of upgrades and weapons this engineer installed into his WMDs, any normal person would be utterly horrified if they saw Kor today. Antoine was clearly unnerved due to his jittering, and while Sonic didn't show it, he was also sweating slightly. Who knew his old friend could do something _this_ destructive? Then again, he's trashed thousands of Eggman's toys so he's not one to judge.

The group didn't dwell on this further as they came under attack by badniks 60 seconds later. Local Egg Army soldiers joined the fray moments later. Along with standard Egg Army uniforms, they also wore typical Middle-Eastern garbs, and the species consisted of various races suited for the arid climate.

"Well, that moment didn't last long..." Kor sighed in annoyance.

"Ah relax. Just a little ambush. Was getting _board_ sitting doing nothing anyway." Sonic chuckled, immediately springing into action.

Antoine gave a dry laugh as he took out his sabre, immediately cutting the tail of a scorpion badnik. Big simply picked up another and threw it towards a rifleman before it could fire a shot. Kor whipped out his AA-12 and fired several rounds at a few soldiers trying to hide on a ridge above the group. Everything seemed to be going pretty well, until the ground began to shake. Seconds later, a larger scorpion badnik with more highly detailed features emerged from the ground, which could only mean one thing...

"Sonic! Horde Commander!" Antoine shouted.

"Kinda busy here 'Twan!" Sonic replied, currently deadlocked with one of the soldiers.

"Ugh, Hornet better pick up the pace..." Kor muttered, temporarily shooting off a few badniks that came near him before continuing to suppress the other soldiers.

Sonic was about to flip the soldier over him to deal with the giant badnik, but an unexpected guest beat him to it. An orange mobian porcupine spun and knocked the large scorpion off balance, while a green fox helped Sonic by knocking the soldier out cold with a well-placed judo chop to the side of his neck. Lastly, a purple mole came from underground and took the horde commander by surprise. The mole cleanly cut through one of the arms, severing a claw, but the badnik wasn't done yet. It stabbed at the mole with its massive stinger, but the mobian quickly dove into the ground. Sonic began running circles around it, taunting for good measure. After he making sure the soldiers wouldn't interfere, Kor marked the robot for death by pinging it with a laser that was attached to his gun. Now, normally a laser sight would be useless on a shotgun, but that's not what it's for. Seconds later, what sounded like a jet engine was heard from above before a few missiles impacted the badnik, turning it into a pile of burning metal.

Hornet appeared soon after, picking up more hostile soldiers and it was ready to send them to hell. The soldiers quickly became unnerved and beat a hasty retreat. The gunship wanted to follow, but Kor denied its request.

The engineer laughed. "They may not remember me, but they sure as hell remember Hornet."

"Thanks for the save, now who the heck are you guys?" Sonic asked.

"We're the cavalry, or as locals call us: The Freedom Fighters!" The porcupine boasted.

The Blue Blur chuckled. "Freedom Fighters huh? Figures we'd inspire some imitators."

"Pff, imitators? That's some big talk there Mr...?" The green fox asked.

"Sonic. Sonic the Hedgehog!"

"Wait, you're _the_ Sonic the Hedgehog?!" The porcupine asked in shock.

"Oh, so you _have_ heard of me."

"There goes his ego again." Kor whispered to Antoine.

The swordsman shook his head. "As if it needed to get any bigger..."

"We modeled our team after yours. I'm Spike, this is Sonar, and this is Trevor Burrow." The porcupine acknowledged the fennec and mole respectively.

"Well, you guys sure have good taste. Think you can help us out on our mission? We're lookin' for someone."

"O-Of course!" Spike said giddily.

The Key Guardian everyone was looking for was named Eshan. Upon reaching Shamar, everyone fanned out to look. However, this proved to be fruitless as no one has seen the man since the Egg Army set up shop close to a temple.

"Any luck?" Antoine asked.

"Nope, and it looks like Professor Pickle hasn't been in his office lately." Sonic replied.

"Nothing on our end either..." Spike sighed.

"Same here, though a few have been rather kind in giving me a few souvenirs since I was last here..." Kor mentioned the few knick-knacks he held. He had no need for them, but he didn't want to be rude.

"And that's why you hire a spy!" Sonar shouted from a roof before jumping down.

"Next time you shout 'spy', don't say it in public..." Kor shook his head, but he couldn't help but wonder something. _"A spy?...Think I'll have to do some history on these guys..."_

"Sorry. The Egg Army kidnapped him and he's being used to repair some old temple. We kinda busted it up a while back. What's so important about it anyway?"

"It iz very complicated. You see-" Antoine began.

"He has keys that open a temple that fixes the planet." Big said simply.

"Ok maybe not z _at_ complex..."

"Do y'all know where it is?" Kor asked.

"Absolutely! Not too far off from here." Spike chimed.

"Well then, let's get this rescue mission on the road!" Sonic boasted.

After pinpointing the temple's location, it was decided to come at night so the Egg Army wouldn't see them coming. However, Kor still had doubts about Sonar revealing herself to be a spy. He knew Rouge well enough considering she'd do anything for jewelry, but G.U.N. paid her enough to keep her on the right side. He knew next to nothing about the fennec or this band of Freedom Fighters, neither did the others, and this didn't sit well with him. Other groups they've run into, at least Sonic or Sally had a history with so he knew he could trust them. But this batch? Something felt...off. Call it old mercenary instincts if you will.

Later at night, the gang arrived at the aforementioned temple. Sonic and Kor peaked over a ledge, studying troop movements. The Egg Army sure didn't waste time making their presence known, as guards and searchlights patrolled here and there.

"Heh heh, security looks tight for once." Sonic noted.

"Unlike that one time you charged at the emerald back in Soumerca?" Kor glanced at him.

"Can you stop bringing that up?"

The fox shrugged. "Just sayin'..."

"Alright listen up guys, we're going to..." He caught the other Freedom Fighters staring at them. "What?"

"S-Sorry. W-We just didn't expect _this_ side of you..." Spike said nervously.

"One of you will have to describe it to me later." Trevor stated.

"What happened to them?" Sonar whispered.

"Oh, it was terrible! I was there! It iz a story of danger and sacrifice! One of peril and-" Antoine was again cut off by Big.

"Sonic breathed a bunch of Dark Gaia gas and Kor was bitten many times by the monsters. Now both turn at night."

"You are being zee spoil sport..." Antoine hissed.

"Oh, I didn't know we were playing a game! Can I be on your team?" Big asked happily.

The swordsman face-palmed. "Not zat kind of sport..."

"I don't know how Sal has the patience for this leader thing..." Sonic groaned.

"Then why can't I lead?" Kor asked.

"Because she put me in charge." Sonic grinned. "Alright line up guys! We're splitting into teams. Kor, you and I will take the high ground and sneak in from above. Spike, you and Trevor know this area more than we do. Take Ant and see if you can get around those guards. Sonar, you watch our backs. If anyone finds you, sic Big on them."

Sonic stretched his arms to reach the roof while Kor climbed up. "Gotta admit. These stretchy arms are fun to swing around on. Almost makes sneaking around too easy."

"About that Sonic. I don't exactly trust those other guys." Kor piped up.

"Why? They're here to help us after all."

"It's just a thought. Every other group we've seen you guys have had a history with, but then these guys come out of nowhere. Then Sonar mentions she's a spah, and you know how I feel about spahs..."

"I think you're working your brain too much. This is gonna be cake."

The fox sighed. "I'm just saying, I don't exactly feel comfortable around them. It feels like we're being led into an ambush."

"Would you relax? I've fought Eggman since I was a kid. How hard can this be?" The werehog jumped down a cliff. Kor shook his head before following.

Both cautiously looked around, not finding much. Suddenly, they were engulfed in a bright light.

"You're a long way from home, Sonic the Werehog...pity that you'll die here." A voice rang out.

Once their vision cleared, both could see they were surrounded by Egg Army soldiers and badniks. Up top among them was the regional Egg Boss herself, Nephthys.

"Hate to say I told you so but..."

"Oh shut it!" Sonic growled.

"And if it isn't the infamous Lead-Thrower himself. I should thank you for allowing Eggman to promote me to Egg Boss."

Kor snorted. "Been a while since I've been called that. What happened to that other boss?"

"He was...put into storage so to speak." The Egyptian vulture grimaced, wishing to forget an old memory. "You two have been a pain in our sides for far too long. Allow us to return the favor." With that, the Egg Army attacked.

The two night beasts split up. Sonic moved to take down the badniks while Kor dealt with the soldiers. The werehog punched and tossed his foes with ease while Kor jumped from the ravines to the soldier's positions. He grabbed one and through him hard into another before taking his gun and shooting at the others. He even bit one on the shoulder and threw him into the ring with Sonic, who promptly punched him out. Sonic hoped the others were faring better with all the attention they were getting. This continued on for a few minutes, and it looked like the two would prevail.

Eventually, Nephthys grew tired of watching the two beasts tear into her forces and decided to take matters into her own hands. Springing into flight, she close-lined Sonic with her metal wings, knocking the wind out of him. "You're only making things worse for us all you know."

Getting his vision straight, the werehog glared at the Egg Boss. "How so?"

"You're constant fighting, antagonizing Eggman, only serves to make him react more viciously."

"So, what? You want me to just roll over and _let_ him have his way? Ain't gonna happen." Sonic grinned.

"He _can't_ be stopped. We can either _live_ in his empire, or _die_ in the fallout of your feud!" The vulture retorted angrily.

"OOOOR, I kick his butt and we all live happily ever after. You can thank me later." Sonic fired back.

With nothing more to be said, the two went at it again. With Kor, he was kinda wishing he was fighting Nephthys at the moment. He had been shot numerous times and it was really beginning to anger him to the point he literally felt his blood boiling. He was about to let out a sonic scream when he felt something get caught in his throat. It started to burn bad as he lowered his defense a bit. The soldiers took that as their cue to close in, but they would soon realize this would be a horrible idea. After clearing his throat a bit, Kor let out a scream, yet it wasn't a scream. Instead, a steady stream of fire came out, surprising him and everyone else. The soldiers to his front immediately dove out of the way to avoid being cremated.

"I can spit fire now?..." He asked out loud, but then grinned evilly as the soldiers started to back away. He spat another stream of fire rather close to another group. Their weapons got so hot it burned their hands. The rest just turned tail and ran, but there wouldn't be any escape for them, as the night fox caught up to his prey with ease.

Sonic dodged another pass from the vulture before grabbing her by the collar. Taking off her wings, the only place Nephthys could go, was to the floor. Right at that moment, Chip came zooming in. "Sonic! We got him! Everyone's already on the move!"

"Awesome! Kor, let's go!" Sonic shouted, stretching his arms to climb the rock face. Soldiers shot at him, but to his surprise, Kor laid some suppressive fire, literally. "Woah! When you'd start taking lessons from Blaze?"

"Who?" Kor asked, confused.

"Nevermind, come on!"

"You're dooming us all Sonic! Your battles with Eggman will only bring misery to us all!" The Egg Boss shouted.

"Yeah whatever. We'll finish our political debate another night." The werehog smirked.

"Just be happy _I'm_ the one spraying fire and not my _gunship!"_ Kor shouted as the trio escaped.

After making sure they weren't being pursued (and Hornet making it very clear they weren't), the group returned the Key Guardian to his home.

"I cannot thank you enough for rescuing me. It will be some time before I even go near the Gaia Temple again, so you'll find it in rough shape when you use this key." Eshan stated.

"No worries, and don't thank me. These guys did all the hard work." Sonic motioned to the others sans Kor.

"Getting shot is just part of the job, unfortunately..." The engineer muttered the last part. He noticed some of his wounds already healed, and even managed to catch one of the bullets imbedded in his skin pop out. "Dark Gaia is truly a strange thing..."

"Well, glad we could hook up teams Spike. You really helped us out!" Sonic stated as he shook hands with the porcupine.

"It's been an honor sir! Hope to do it again some day!"

"I hope to God not..." Kor muttered under his breath.

"So are there more of these Key Guardians out there? How many more do you need?" Sonar asked.

"Zat iz sensitive information we must be guarding very-" Antoine started.

"Four." Big answered.

The swordsman sighed in defeat. "Why do I even bother?..."

After parting ways, the group found their extreme gear and began heading back to the Sky Patrol.

"3 down, four more to go! Getting these keys is easy!" Sonic cheered.

"Zat is relieving. It was hard enough gathering all the emeralds..." Antoine agreed.

"Surprisingly Eggman doesn't have any of them. That's a start." Kor stated.

Sonic noticed Kor's 'friend' wasn't trailing behind them. "Where's Hornet?"

"Doing something personal for me." The engineer stated.

The werehog sighed. "What more proof do you want? They helped us get the key! They even helped save our bacon twice!"

"Because it was no coincidence Nephthys _knew_ we'd be coming at night, even more so that Antoine ending up getting ambushed by badniks in the tunnel!" Kor retorted. "We could've come at any time of the day and they wouldn't have known. Sure, they knew we were in the area, but when we arrived they were clearly waiting for us, so obviously some information was leaked..."

Sonic wanted to argue back but he knew Kor's statement held some weight. That trap seemed too perfect. Unlike the one in Soumerca, where it was just a classic bait trap, the Egg Army knew where everyone was. Sonic wouldn't admit it, but he would keep that in mind for later.

 **-Elsewhere-**

Sonar and Spike were on a video with someone while Trevor was working on a punching bag.

"Is everything ok back at base Neph?" The fennec asked.

"It's under control now. Some wounded, quite a few with severe burns...but thankfully no fatalities on my end."

"We're really sorry about all this Neph. I mean...we _kne_ _w_ Sonic would destabilize things, and it didn't help that the Lead Thrower was with him, but..." Spike tried to figure out what else could be said.

"No apologies needed Spike. You all gave me the heads-up when they came to town and le them into those ambushes. You all did everything right... _I'm_ the one who failed to finish things properly..." The Egg Boss replied, rubbing the space between her eyes.

"Well, if we had any doubt in our plan before, it's gone now." Spike stated.

"Right. Sonic showed up and everything fell to pieces...thankfully Kor didn't decide to just blow up the entire place..." Sonar added.

"Well, we can still salvage the delicate balance of power we've established. I'll report to Eggman and tell him what happened. Hopefully this new intel on these "Key Guardians" can defuse his temper a bit..." Nephthys replied.

" _Hopefully_ _..._ be safe Neph."

"Same to you three. Don't worry, we'll keep this region stable." She ended the line. Unbeknownst to the 'Freedom Fighter' trio, a certain gunship was hovering above their position. Hornet had a built in transceiver that allowed it to listen in on enemy communications when within range, and it hear every word. Growling to itself, it wanted to just blow those 3 off the face of this planet, but that's probably not what its creator would want. Regardless, it would share this information with him. Turning due west, it sped away from the city. It needed to catch up with the others.

Nephthys had been friends with the three so-called freedom fighters for quite a long time. When the previous boss had been disposed of thanks to Kor putting their power to critical levels, she found herself in a position to do some good. Now, make no mistake, the vulture didn't like Eggman in the slightest. But, he knew every time he lost to Sonic he would pull out bigger guns, and she didn't want to him to focus on Mid-Esta any time soon. It was a lot of work rebuilding her forces, and with her friends helping from the other side, they could safely wage these little war games without any serious consequences. Sonic and his friends may have diminished the Egg Army's power in the region, but she would do whatever she could to keep this area from suffering a fate worse than death.

As Neph started dialing Eggman's number, an 'Incoming Call' message popped up on her screens. "Ah, speak of the devil. Wait...why is _he_ calling? Does he somehow know?..." Eggman's face soon appeared. "Good evening doctor. I-I can explain..."

"Whatever it is, save it! I need you on the Death Egg _now_! You're going to take part in a _Priority One_ mission!"

"Y-Yes sir! I'll be there as soon as I can!" With that, the dictator ended the call. "Geez...wonder what's gotten him angry this time?..."

 **A/N: And that's the end of part 1. Apologies for the delay, but you know how life is. Anyway, 3 keys down, 4 more to go. But, what else could be in store for the heroes? And what new information could be of potential use later? We'll see. We'll see.**


	13. Good Key Hunting Pt 2

**A/N: Here comes the unlucky 13, which ironically may be the most interesting chapter. 3 keys down, four more to go as it's been told. But, there's also another strange phenomenon going on that should be looked into. When found, it'll shed some light on what's going on behind the scenes, and old enemies will soon meet again. Check out what's going to be cooking in this chapter!**

 **Disclaimer: All characters belong to Sega and Archie except my OC.**

The trip to the Sky Patrol was shorter than when they had to travel to Mid-Esta, mainly due in part that the next Key Guardian they were looking for was in Efrika. Hornet arrived a half hour after they returned, where Kor listened to the messages the drone picked up. Confirming his suspicions, the engineer made sure to pass this information to everyone else. Needless to say, while Sonic still respected them for helping retrieve the Gaia Key, he sure wasn't going to be making any deals with them any time soon. Antoine and Big shared similar thoughts. With the possibility of Eggman increasing his search for the Gaia Keys, the heroes knew they would have to pick up the pace. After getting some rest, Sonic, Tails, and Chip went after the key located in Efrika. Sally and Rotor later took off for Spagonia to meet up with Professor Pickle, as another Key Guardian turned out to be an old colleague of his (one he wasn't entirely on good terms with however). Antoine and Kor sighed in relief as this gave them a period to relax, or in Kor's case, continue working on Terry.

Today, the fox wore a pair of cordless headphones, listening to music as he worked. He was currently singing to _Welcome to Paradise_ by _Green Day_. It took a few hours of opening up the sides of the ammo tubes but the fox managed to get them wide enough for rockets to easily fit inside. The hull of the large AFV didn't need to be changed as it had plenty of space for storing said ammunition. Now, all Kor needed to do was marry the 115mm gun to the turret, test fire it, and test the time it would take for Terry to interchange guns. If all went well, the autonomous robot would be fully functional again.

At this time, Nicole walked into the hanger holding her PDA. She was greeted to the sight of her boyfriend doing an air guitar rift to match that of the song. The A.I. couldn't help but giggle at the sight. He hadn't noticed her yet, and as such she decided to surprise him. Sneaking up to him with a smirk, she tapped him on the shoulder while he was busy digging through his tools. Kor turned, only to be greeted with a peck on the lips, causing him to blush.

"Enjoying yourself?" The A.I. smirked.

"Y-Yeah." He smiled sheepishly. "How long were you standing there?"

"Long enough to see you doing an air guitar." She replied, causing his face to turn redder. "Oh come on I thought it was cute." She smiled.

"Heh, t-thanks."

"Seems you made a lot of progress here." Nicole stated, noting Terry's condition.

"Yeah, but it's not finished yet. Still got a few things to do though." Kor wiped his brow. "So what's up?"

"Well..." She said a little nervously. "Before Sally left, we both had been looking over some Dark Gaia energy readings and noticed a great amount was being directed to one spot on the planet. I haven't a clue what's causing it, but Sally wants someone to find out what is. Since everyone was going to be busy, she suggested that you could be able to do it."

Kor groaned in annoyance. "Ugh...'nother recon job? I was hoping to have Terry done by today..."

"I know Kor, but this could be important concerning this world issue. I don't want to go by yourself but..."

"I can go, and I technically wouldn't be alone because I'd have Hornet with me. It's just that if we need to do a ground assault or somethin' Terry won't be of use until it's done."

Nicole tapped her chin in thought. "How about I finish Terry for you?"

Kor raised an eyebrow. "You sure you can do that? It's gonna require some work, plus it's new gun needs to be test fired, it needs to be welded into the turret, and-" He was cut off as Nicole made him look into her eyes.

"Kor, relax. I can handle it." She smiled sweetly. "You just make sure you come back without any bullet holes this time, ok?" She added, remembering how he mentioned to everyone he was shot multiple times on the previous mission, yet his body somehow healed itself relatively quick.

The fox chuckled. "Heh, ok." The two pecked each other on the lips once more before parting ways.

Nicole had to link herself back into the Sky Patrol before the ring ran out of energy to sustain her form. In the mean time, Kor went to the ship's armory to grab a few times: his hi-tech helmet, his missile launcher, and his auto-shotgun incase things got ugly. Going to the control room, Nicole gave Kor the coordinates of where the large Dark Gaia energy signature was coming from. It wasn't long before the engineer awoke Hornet, and after a quick refill on weapons and a flight check, the two were off. Based on how far off this location was, it was gonna be a long trip.

 **-One Hour Later-**

Sonic, Tails, and Chip returned to the Sky Patrol, having successfully retrieved yet another key. They also tangled with Egg Boss Axel and his motorized Egg Army. The big boss himself had been driving a large machine that closely resembled a spider while his underlings were on typical vehicles such as motorcycles. The trio's plan was very simple: while Sonic kept the Egg Army busy, Tails and Chip would retrieve the key. There was some slight difficulty as the key was in the temple, which was in control of their enemies. To the kit and spirit's shock, they found the Egg Army managed to put the key together. This raised some concern on whether it had been tested on any of the doors, so the two went to check.

This little venture helped Chip remember exactly what he was supposed to do when the time came to fix the planet, and with this quest done, they notified Sonic, who ceased his pestering and retreated.

"Man, Axel thinks he drove _me_ off. I so would've wiped the floor with him if we weren't on a schedule." True Blue boasted, stretching his arms.

"I saw. You would've ran rings around him!" Chip agreed.

"So what was it that you found in the temple?" Tails asked.

"Oh right. I finally remembered who I'm supposed to be! I really _am_ the Light Gaia, the one who supposed to fix the planet once we have everything we need! And best of all: I know what I need to do to save everyone!" Chip boasted in excitement.

"That's great! Now all we need to do is focus on gathering the rest of the puzzle, then its goodbye jigsaw planet!" Sonic stated.

After a quick look around the hangar, Tails noticed Hornet was missing. Normally the gunship would've been flying nearby patrolling the skies, but it never greeted them upon return. _"Wonder where Kor sent it now?"_

A distinct sound of metal on metal was heard, causing the three to look towards Terry's still separate turret. What surprised them was that a blow torch and large claw were marrying the rocket launching mortar to the turret. There was no sign of the engineer.

"Guess Kor finally made an automated machine to do the heavy lifting." Sonic chuckled.

"Close, but not quite." Nicole's voice rang out.

"Ah I see. Did Kor finally need some help on his project?" The hedgehog asked.

"Quite contrary. He would still be here doing it himself, but he had to go investigate another issue."

It was Chip's turn to ask. "Such as what?"

"Myself and Sally noticed that a large amount of Dark Gaia energy was being channeled to a particular spot on the planet. Sally wanted someone to go check it out, and at the time the only person capable of doing it was him, especially since Hornet could evade detection if the area was hostile. He's been gone for an hour, but...I don't know when he'll return..."

"Ah don't worry Nicole. That old dog can handle himself." Sonic assured her.

"Still, if it's concerning Dark Gaia, I think I should've gone with him..." Chip stated, rather concerned.

"You were busy helping us get another Gaia Key. It couldn't be helped. Plus, he's just going to take a few pictures and report back right?" Tails asked.

"Yes. I just hope he doesn't cause any trouble for himself..." Nicole stated before getting back to work.

 **-Elsewhere: Hours Later-**

The orange rays of the sun kissed the sky as Hornet continued its trek to the northeast. The flight was taking so long that Kor had fallen asleep only two hours into the trip. His PDA started to beep, indicating that they were getting close to their destination. It took Hornet having to jossle itself to wake the fox.

"Huh? I'm up I'm up..." He rubbed his eyes groggily and eyed the incessantly beeping device. "We're close."

The PDA beeped louder, signifying they were right on their target. In the cloud layer, Hornet dived to get a better visual, but what they saw was quite...astounding...  
What the two were looking at was one of Eggman's largest bases, perhaps his biggest one yet. Looking below what he assumed was the entrance, Kor saw a large neon sign that read 'EggmanLand'. The engineer heard many stores of how this was the mad doctor's ultimate goal, and now it looks like he accomplished that. But what would he want with Dark Gaia energy? Surely his armies are having the same issue with the monsters at night, right?

At the center of this vast expense sat a large tower that appeared to be radiating with the dark energy. Hornet gave a low chirp, indicating it was detecting hostiles in the area. Kor guessed it might be Eggman's robots fighting off the monsters, but he was in for a huge surprise. Once they close to the spire, the fox's eyes widened in shock. Aside from several robots, he also saw what looked like mobians down there.

"The hell is going on here?..." Kor adjusted his helmet and zoomed in to the group, getting a clearer picture.

The mobians in question bore cybernetic parts, so no doubt these guys were affiliated with the dictator himself. And speaking of the devil, Kor spotted Eggman driving some vehicle with a drill in the head, evading what looked to be Metal Sonic with some sort of crystals covering it. Panning through the mobians, Kor recognized quite a few: large electrical discharges coming from a small yellow chinchilla which he knew was Thunderbolt, a large vulture flying around which he identified as Nephthys, a purple walrus in arctic clothing which Kor assumed was Rotor's father Tundra, a large green kukku which Kor knew had to be Battle Kukku XV (never a day went by when that stupid armada didn't want to flex their air supremacy), and lastly, Kor spotted a certain lynx wearing a conical straw hat kicking some beetle bugs in.

"So, Stormy's an Egg Boss huh? Not too shocking..." He muttered to himself.

He didn't know who the other mobians were, but he assumed they must've been Egg Bosses as well. They were all busy fighting badniks covered in crystals, along with a trio of regular mobians. The engineer had no clue who the hell they were, but then he spotted what looked like two witches. At this point, Eggman was wearing some sort of green-colored armor. Wanting to find out more, Kor told Hornet to turn on its transceiver and listen to the chatter on the ground. He linked it up with his helmet so he could hear it as well.

Eggman swats Crystal Sonic away as it charged at him. "Sorry Metal Sonic. I'll repair you later!"

Naugus was getting infuriated with the doctor's constant interference. He was so close to regaining his lost magic when the doctor launched this unexpected assault on his own base, and he wasn't about to loose this battle. Wendy, his sister, joined his side. "Crystalize his armor!"

The two wizards shot crystalizing magic at the tyrant, yet he wasn't fazed by it in the slightest. "Hahaha! You can't crystalize _pure energy_!" The doctor jumped forward through the blast, nailing Naugus hard in the abdomen. "Had enough?"

"Y-Yes! You win!" Naugus gasped.

"Aw, but I thought you _loved_ waging war against me!" Eggman grinned, pummeling the wizard into the ground.

Wendy scooted off to the side, hoping to make a quick escape. "I'll...leave him to you Wally. After all it was your idea-ek!" She stopped when a laser scythe was inches from her neck. It was held by none other than Clove. "If you're smart, you'll _stand down_..." She said, clearly irritated by this whole venture. Wendy's henchmen, the witchcarters, were incapacitated by Morderd's vertigo-inducers, _after_ they had to be beaten down by the other Egg Bosses.

Eggman laughed as Naugus struggled to his feet. "Ah, I do so enjoy hands-on work. But, all good things must come to an end, and speaking of which..." He charged up his energy cannon. "Here's yours!"

However, just before he could end the pitiful wizard, Crystal Sonic moved to intercept the blast. The robot took the full brunt of the attack, casting a light that blinded everyone in the area. Once he regained his vision, Eggman founded that the troll wizard vanished. Thankfully, Metal Sonic was no longer crystalized.

"Any sign of that meddlesome pest?" He asked.

"Don't see Walter anywhere sir. Actually...can't see much of anything after that flash..." Axel stated, still trying to get his eyes adjusted.

"Eh, forget it. He's lost and he knows it. He likely scuttled off into the shadows to plot and feel sorry for himself, I'm sure of it. Besides..." He handed Metal to Ahklut and turned to Wendy, who was still being held in place by Clove. "Wendy was the _real_ threat this time."

" _Threat_? Oh you flatter me doctor! You know me. I'm not really the 'conquest' type, this was mainly Wally's idea!" She pleaded.

"I still lost a lot of badniks thanks to you. Release the rest!" He ordered, to which Wendy ceased her control over the small robots. Kor saw the crystals disappear on all of them, at which they started to function normally. "Good, and with that, you've outlived your usefulness. Clove, reap what she's sown."

The pronghorn was about to do the deed, but Wendy once again pleaded for her life. "Hold on here! We've worked together in the past, we could do it again!"

"That was a business transaction. You sold me some ancient relics in exchange for my tech."

"And I have much, _much_ more to offer! And I can find even more beyond that."

Kor shook his head and chuckled. "Like an animal in a corner she begs for mercy. I'm honestly surprised Eggy hasn't killed her already."

Eggman took a moment to think it over. "Hmmm..."

"You did say you wanted an even number of Egg Bosses." Axel added.

"That I did, and I don't have an expert in the mythical elements department...yet..." Eggman grinned.

"Yes yes! Listen to him! You don't even have to supply me with troops as I have my own gang!" Wendy suggested.

"Very well then. You're hired."

Clove shrugged and released the witch. "Oh thank you doctor! I promise you won't regret it!"

"See to it that I don't." Eggman chuckled evilly. "Mordred, let them up. Wendy, get your idiots back under control!"

The two Egg Bosses complied, and the witchcarters were once again under Wendy's spell. Kor began to wonder if those three were being held against their will. After all, it didn't make much sense for the three mobians to trust that witch especially since she had to cast a spell. However, the prospect of dealing with wizards that could take control of machines through their magic did cause great concern for the engineer, as his two best assets were _drones_. However, after hearing and seeing how Eggman dealt with those trolls, at least the fox knew what he needed to do to make his machines impervious to their magic. Shortly after, Eggman called a drop ship, to which he took Wendy and her minions to the Death Egg to have them injected with 'communicators' and to 'keep them in line'. The other Egg Bosses began to disperse as well, likely going back to their bases.

Kor smacked himself on the forehead irritably. While this was a recon mission, Hornet was still bristling with weapons, and while Eggman and his flunkies were distracted, he could have potentially taken out all of them and perhaps saving the word would be a hell of a lot easier. With all of the Egg Bosses, Metal Sonic, and even Eggman himself wiped out for good, the Egg Army would've fallen apart in short order and the world could've finally known peace.

"Ugh...goddammit. An opportunity wasted due to listening in for too long... God. Fucking. Damnit!" Kor cursed himself, bringing his fist to his helmet with the last 3 words. While there was no time to mourn on the missed chance, he was sure this fateful decision would haunt him for the rest of his life...

Still, with security low, and the amount of information he collected, this would prove useful later on. Regaining his resolve, he told Hornet to scour the base, photographing every point of interest which included the spire, the badnik control tower (which was damaged), the generator and some other places. He saw an enormous smoking hole in the base, and while it might have not housed any strategic importance, he took a picture anyway. Kor did consider doing more damage to the base, but it would be pointless as Hornet didn't have the firepower to level the entire area, and Eggman would just rebuild when he came back. After finishing their recon, Kor instructed Hornet to head back to the Sky Patrol, which according to radar was heading east. He was so going to give an earful to everyone when he got back.

 **-Several Hours Later-**

Sally and Rotor arrived a few hours after Sonic's group, and with them was the 5th Gaia Key. Nicole informed Sally of Kor's departure when she returned, though no one was sure when he would get back, if at all. Since Rotor still couldn't pick up Hornet on the radar, all they could do was wait. In the mean time, Nicole made some steady progress on Terry. She successfully married the rocket mortar to the turret, and even had the drone test fire a few rounds to ensure it worked. The A.I stayed up as long as she could awaiting her lover's return, but even she had to put herself in sleep mode after becoming fatigued.

It wouldn't be until 3 am that Kor and Hornet would return to the ship. Due to how late it was, Kor already assumed everyone was asleep hours beforehand. Thankfully, Rotor gave him a passcode for just such an occasion. Once the doors opened, Hornet parked itself in its usual spot. It practically fell to the floor upon landing, obviously tired as hell from flying for more than half a day. Kor wasn't in any better shape either. Giving a tired smile, he patted the gunship on the face before heading towards the sleeping quarters.

Upon passing Terry, he noticed the 115mm was mounted to the turret. He was too tired to show his excitement, but Kor was thrilled that Nicole managed to get that part done for him. He rubbed the space between his eyes.

"Ugh...13 freaking hours of non-stop flying. Need to..." He gave a yawn. "Quit doing these long jobs..." Trudging to his room, he collapsed on his bed after shutting the door.

Come the next day, it was 9 in the morning and just about everyone was awake. Well, except one that is. Regardless, the heroes were going over their plan in the meeting room.

"So from what the Professor Pickle told us, there's another Key Guardian residing in Chun-nan. However, our scanners detected badniks all over the area, including a Silver Sonic, so the Egg Army may be looking for the Guardian as well." Sally explained.

"Heh, ain't nothing we've dealt with before. We'll have that key in no time and be back before dinner." Sonic assured, lying back in his chair.

" _Should be_ easy doesn't mean it _will be_. Anyway, we'll deal with the badniks first to make it easier on our end. Sonic and Big, you'll be in charge of dealing with the Silver Sonic while myself, Antoine, and Cream will deal with the smaller badniks."

Cream beamed at the idea. "I get to go on a mission?!"

Sally smiled. "Yes Cream. Do you think you can handle it?"

"I'm more than ready!" The young rabbit cheered, with Cheese sharing her joy.

"I've also been able to get in contact with Dulcy. She said her group would be able to help us when they can." The princess added.

"Heh, been a long time since we've seen her. Would be nice to catch up." Sonic stated.

"Also, we've learned where the last key is residing as well. Tails and Bunnie, I want you guys to head to Adabat. The Guardian lives in a small fishing village in that archipelago, and since there isn't an Egg Army presence there, it shouldn't be hard finding him." The two heroes nodded in agreement. "And lastly...does anyone know if Kor returned from his trip yet?" The chipmunk asked.

"Logs show the hangar door opened around 0300. I'll bring up the camera now." Nicole stated, linking the hangar camera to the screen. Once the link was fully connected, everyone could see the entirety of the room. The planes, the still-under-construction Terry, and most importantly, Hornet, who looked to be sleeping.

"Well that settles that. Let's do it to it guys!" Sally cheered.

"Isn't that _my_ line?" Sonic smirked.

"Can't I use it?" The princess pointed out.

After getting their gear ready, the two teams set out. Since nearly everyone was gone, it seemed quieter than normal. Even Chip tagged along since he felt he could do something about the troubled spirit. Rotor attached a ring to Nicole's computer so the A.I. could use her physical form.

"Thank you Rotor. I'll be back."

"Alright. Try not to disturb him too much." He smiled.

The lynx walked down the crew quarters until she came upon the engineer's room. Peaking in, she could see Kor still sleeping soundly underneath the covers. Aside from having an obvious case of bed hair, it appeared he hadn't gotten into any fights while he was gone, which suited her just fine. Closing the door softly, she would let him get his sleep in. Hopefully he found what was causing the Dark Gaia energy to gather.

It wasn't until close to 11A.M. that the engineer finally began to stir. After taking a quick shower, Kor kicked open his bedroom door and walked down the hall to the mess area, still rubbing some sleep out of his eyes. He did notice that no one else was in their rooms, or even around for that matter. Hell, not even Cream and Cheese were present. Deciding not to think much on it, he made himself some coffee before heading towards the command room. Rotor was sitting in his chair while Nicole was leaning on a window sill, studying the ground below.

The walrus turned when he heard the door open. "Back from the dead huh?"

"Somewhat. Still trying to get the sleep out of mah head." The fox sipped his mug. "Where'd everyone else go?"

"Sally, Sonic, Antoine, Big, and Cream went down below to Chun-nan to get another key while Bunnie and Tails left to go after another elsewhere."

"Chun-nan...we're over Yurashia?"

"Morning sleepy-head." Nicole greeted from her position.

"Hey Nikki."

"Did everything turn out ok? You must've been pretty tired from yesterday." She asked.

"Yeah, though uh...what I found...I don't think 'overwhelming' is too strong of a word..."

Rotor and Nicole glanced at each other questioningly. "What did you see?" The captain asked.

"I'll explain it more when the others return, but here's a hint: Eggman's involved..." The engineer finished the rest of his mug. "I'll go grab the stuff for you guys to look at. While you're doing that, I'm gonna head down there myself."

"I thought you'd be wanting to finish working on your robot." Rotor stated.

"I could, but since we're over this world's equivalent of China, I figured it'd be a good idea to pay a visit to an old 'friend'." The fox grinned.

"But Kor...after the long flight you had yesterday, are you sure that would be wise?" Nicole asked, clearly concerned.

"Don't worry sweetie. It was just a recon mission, and I was mostly jet-lagged. Also if you're concerned about security, you can wake up Hornet if it doesn't come back online after awhile." He walked over and pecked her on the forehead. "And thanks for installing Terry's gun." The lynx smiled in response.

The fox walked out the room and returned minutes later with a USB containing information he and Hornet collected the day before. Leaving the two to go about their business, he grabbed his launcher which had been sitting in the hanger all night and started his bike. He actually felt glad he didn't have to rely on Hornet for trips now, especially since he didn't want to wake the bugger after that long-ass flight.

 **-Down Below: Shijin Shrine-**

As they had planned, the Freedom Fighters had dealt with the badniks first, which they intercepted on the Dragon Road. As the radar suggested, Silver Sonic was present for this battle. Big originally thought the bot was destroyed when it tried attacking the Sky Patrol during its early launch phase, but as Sonic pointed out, the cannons merely disabled it. The horde commander managed to put the purple cat in a painful arm-lock before Sonic intervened. Immediately after, Dulcy swooped in, engulfing it in flames before kicking it into a nearby river.

Apologizing for her late arrival, the green dragon was currently treating everyone to lunch. They also met the rest of her team, which included a tortoise named Bunker, a young pheasant named Cinder, and a white tiger named Jian, who was also an ex-Egg soldier.

"Sated, O Spirit?" Sonic asked with a grin.

"Sonic, the great creator as my witness, we _must_ save this world! The noodles. The dumplings. We must save it all!" Chip declared.

"So do you guys know of any Key Guardians living around here?" Sally asked.

"Ah, you must mean Zonshen. He usually goes to the temple grounds to make offerings to the Phoenix Spirit every week." Bunker stated.

"I hope he hasn't gone lately. The spirit's been acting weird recently..." Dulcy noted.

"Another spirit? Like you Mr. Chip?" Cream asked.

"Heh, not quite Cream. It's a 'Lesser Spirit', meant to be the keeper of the Golden Flame. It ties into some prophecy junk my mom goes on and on about. The spirit itself is a large, powerful, fiery, and _very territorial_ bird." The dragon explained.

"And it's the only reason the Egg Army hasn't captured the temple." Jian added.

"Yeah..." Dulcy grimaced.

"I'm actually surprised they were smart enough to know not to play with fire." A familiar voice added. Everyone turned and noticed Kor standing by the entrance.

"Heh, 'bout time you caught up." Sonic chuckled. "How'd ya find this place?"

"I was tired alright? Thanks for letting me sleep though. And it wasn't hard considering you left a trail of trashed robots."

"Well to be fair, no one knew you came back last night. So how did it go?" Sally asked.

"Found _a lot_ more than I was expecting that's fer sure...Rotor and Nikki are lookin' through what I found to see if they could make some sense of it. In the mean time, thought I'd drop down for a visit." The engineer smiled.

"Kor! Been a long time since we last met!" Dulcy said, hugging the engineer. However, it was a bit too tight.

"Dulcy...Dulcy! Losing oxygen!..."

"Oh, sorry!" She quickly let go.

"If I had to guess, you and Dulcy met when you first came to our world?" Antoine questioned.

"We've all met before, though it was mostly an accident." Jian stated.

"How?" Big asked.

"Well, turns out the Egg Army was looking to wipe these guys out for good, and would have succeeded if I didn't decide to get involved." Kor explained, taking a seat at the table. "As I told you guys before, despite being out-numbered, we had better firepower since I laid down several of my old sentries. By old, I mean back from my days working for RED. Simplistic as they are, they're still very dangerous if you're within range of 'em. You guys know the rest after that...but since then we parted ways as I wanted to explore the rest of the world."

"So what have you been up to the last 2 years?" Cinder asked.

"Want the long or short version?" The fox chuckled.

"Keep it short Kor. We don't have the time to listen to the entire story again." Sally pointed out.

"Well, been a pain in the butt for the Egg Army and made a name for myself." He leaned back in his chair. "Hacked Eggman's network, stole an E-100 blueprint and built an autonomous gunship from it, refined and upgraded my other AFV drone, had a love interest (didn't work out), got arrested once and then joined up with Sonic's crew. Oh, and I found my long lost love."

"Well you've been a busy bee." Dulcy replied.

"So how long have y'all been friends?" The fox asked.

"We met Dulcy when we were kids. Sure had a lot of fun times, right 'Twan?" True Blue asked the swordsman.

"I remember her sneezing and setting my hair on fire." The coyote responded half-heartedly. Kor stifled a laugh.

"Pardon if I may ask, but why don't more people want to help you guys?" The young rabbit piped up.

"Well...it's kinda complicated. The clans have been fighting each other over territory and ideology for centuries. They can agree that Eggman is a threat, but they can't agree to do anything about him..." The dragon explained.

"Yeah...the Southern Pyre Clan still isn't too happy that I left..." Cinder added.

"I hate it! It's what made me run away all those years ago. But..."

"Well I look at it like this. If they can agree Eggman is a threat, why don't all of them just shut up and unite to fight against him and anyone he uses as his puppets? Guess they'll never be able to decide until he's burning their homes to the ground." Kor pointed out.

"Maybe..." Dulcy agreed.

"But, despite all that, we have been changing minds and turning hearts. But as history tells, changing traditions is a slow process." Bunker stated.

"True, and unfortunately the swiftest of change has been to the benefit of our enemies. The Egg Clan preaches of unity through strength. All are welcome so long as they work hard. It's what initially drew me in..." Jian's face turned into that of regret. "Until I realized what their true intentions were..."

"Definitely sounds like Conquering Storm alright. She likes to pride herself in strength like it's the only thing that matters..." Kor took a dumpling from the basket. "But, strength alone only gets you so far, and I taught her that lesson the _hard_ _way_. Guess she's somewhat learned of her mistake since then, even though that trick I pulled almost killed her."

"They certainly had the most organized badnik horde we've faced. What other advantages do they have?" Sally questioned.

Dulcy began to count on her fingers. "Out-number us a million to one, rigid training regimen, a leader they love and follow without question, a base right next to the temple...should I go on?"

"Ladies, ladies. It's simple. We've already got a back door to the temples, so all we really need are the keys. We can worry about driving the Egg Army off later." Sonic said in a calm manner.

"True, but I can't _wait_ to butt heads with Storm again. I'm betting right now she's probably pissed as hell knowing I'm here." Kor chuckled.

 **-Yurashian Egg Army Base-**

Sitting on the side of a mountain less than a mile from the Gaia Temple sat Conquering Storm's base of operations. Being trained in all forms of close combat, she always prided herself on the value of one's strength, and was considered to be the strongest of all of her troops. None would dare challenge her as they adored her and held her highly for her leadership skills, despite how cold the lynx could be at times (and the fact she would easily kick the ass of whoever was foolish enough to do so). Yet, when she joined with Eggman in a bid to further her own gains, Storm was placed in a difficult position. As she and those like her prided on strength, the use of cybernetics went against their philosophy. Yet, she couldn't refuse, or Eggman would destroy all of them. So, for the sake of her soldiers, she allowed herself to be cyberized. The only way you could notice this was just by looking at her eyes.

Currently, the Egg Boss was overseeing repairs to Silver Sonic. It took a lot of damage from Sonic and Dulcy, not to mention being thrown into a river really screwed with its circuitry. It wouldn't be useful to her any time soon.

A ninja cat approached Storm. "The Freedom Fighters have been spotted in the village master. They've been joined by Dulcy's team."

"They must be coming for the Gaia Temple...good. Let them pass, just like the old man this morning. The corrupted spirit will destroy them for us." She simply stated.

"Also master, we've spotted a red fox among the Freedom Fighters." The ninja added.

Storm's usual glare hardened. She gazed at the soldier. "What did you say?"

The cat grew nervous. "T-There's a red fox among the Freedom Fighters. I-It might be the same one from all those y-years ago."

The lynx closed her eyes. "That's what I thought you said...very well. You may go." The ninja bowed before exiting.

While Conquering Storm was usually good at hiding whatever emotion she was feeling, she couldn't help but grit her teeth in anger. That damned fox...the lynx didn't know what pit of hell he came from, but Kor definitely proved to be someone you don't want to underestimate. She thought he would be an easy kill, running away like a fucking coward. It was this line of thinking that Storm came to regret it quickly, as she found herself staring down the barrels of a turret. He played her for a fool, and was prepared to end her life at a moment's notice. If it wasn't for her quick agility...she was badly wounded, but she got lucky. "Never again", Storm always told herself. She wouldn't be tricked into death this time. The lynx swore that next time she met Kor, she was going to put a kunai is his fucking throat.

"Mark my words Kor...by the end of this night, you'll be lying in a pool of your own blood..." Storm muttered to herself.

 **A/N: What a mouthful right? The keys are almost all collected, Kor's found something of interest, and the stage is set for an old fashioned meeting. I particularly liked giving Kor another moment to regret like I did in my first story, but unlike the first one, this will hit home more due to what's gonna happen later on. Hope you enjoy this segment, cause it's heating up.**


	14. Clash of the Fighters

**A/N: Now back to 14. Being a college junior working on engineering takes a lot of time, and the fact I'm being a bit lazy when it comes to producing new chapters. But that doesn't mean I forget my stories. Anyway, the Freedom Fighters arrived in Chun-Nan and, with the aid of Dulcy's group, will retrieve one of the last two keys they need to fix everything. However, two certain mobians will be clashing hard on this night, and blood will be drawn.**

 **Disclaimer: All characters belong to Sega and Archie except my OC.**

In order to have the best chance at retrieving the key, it was decided that the heroes would attack at night in order for Sonic to make use of his werehog form. During the day, the Egg Army hadn't tried to attack them. Thinking about it, it would've been pointless since the group was now a formidable force. That, or Conquering Storm was content on letting the heroes make the first move. Regardless, the sun disappeared below the horizon soon enough, and like any first timers, the Yurishian Freedom Fighters were quite surprised. That didn't mean the other heroes were still concerned despite having become used to it.

"I'm be glad when this nightmare is over. The constant headaches are driving me insane...well more than usual." Kor growled, flexing his claws. He glanced down at his torn boots. "This is why I stopped wearing shoes for the time being. How come yours just turn into cleats?"

"It isn't a picnic for me either, and to be honest, I haven't got a clue." Sonic shrugged sheepishly. Kor shook his feet to get rid of the wasted footwear.

"The fangs and claws look pretty cool, but I bet all that fur looks like a pain to brush." Dulcy joked.

"Ah you're just jealous Scaly." Sonic smirked.

"As if Fuzz Ball."

"So, how long has this been occurring?" Bunker asked.

"Sonic started since the tremors began, and Kor followed after being bitten too many times." Sally explained.

"Hmm. I can still sense their purity through a field of corruption. I'm surprised they've had to endure this for so long."

"Well to be fair, both had tried to bite ze faces of our enemies off before we got through to them." Antoine added.

"Yes, don't remind me of that..." Kor sighed.

A minute later, Jian, Chip, and Cheese arrived. The Light Gaia was rather panicked.

"Guys! It's bad! Really, _really_ bad!"

"Calm down Chip, what's wrong?" Sally asked.

"The spirit at the temple has been corrupted with Dark Gaia energy!"

"Well, we both know how that goes..." Kor mused.

Cheese spoke to Cream in his native tongue. "Cheese says Mr. Zonshen is trapped by the spirit too!"

"Well, things just escalated quickly..." Dulcy groaned.

"What about the Egg Army? You said they had a base nearby right?" Sally asked.

"Yes, I scout ahead and..." Jian stopped after finally noticing how Sonic and Kor actually looked.

The engineer frowned "...what?"

"They've been changing at night, it's a long story." The princess explained.

"Riiight...as I was saying, I scouted ahead and surprisingly they're absent. Normally they've had the temple blocked off but it seems they actually _want_ us to have direct access."

Sally paused to think. "Conquering Storm probably wants us to deal with the phoenix for her. That, or send her forces to overwhelm us while we're preoccupied..."

"Knowing her it's probably the latter." Kor added.

"And you know her that well?" Antoine smirked.

"She's one of those types that act first without thinking things thoroughly. Granted, it's been a couple years so she probably got smarter, but not by much. Since this spirit is a flaming bird there's no doubt in my mind they wouldn't dare go near it unless it was weak or something."

"Hmmm..." Sally paused. "Chip, now that your powers are restored, is there a way you could cure the phoenix?"

"Well, maybe? It is a spirit after all, so it's probably that special kind of situation. If it were weakened enough, I might be able to restore it."

"Leave that to me. We Dark-Gaia-Infected types need to look out for our own."

"Not sure if I want to get burned so soon..." Kor said uneasily.

"You just spat fire the other night. Why are you worried about being burned now?" Sonic questioned.

"Bad, bad memories with fire..." The engineer stated, clearly remembering the many times the BLU Pyro burned him until he was Texas Toast. "But, what I can do is lie in wait until Storm shows up. No doubt she'll come in force the moment you've dealt with the phoenix. I'll give a roar when I've spotted her."

"Just don't ruin our eardrums again." Sonic pointed out.

"Nah, this one is different. Was working on it on my way back yesterday."

"Sounds like a plan. The rest of us will see if we can't set up an ambush of our own." Sally smiled.

Soon after, the teams parted ways. Sonic, Kor, and Chip headed for the temple while the rest of the heroes hid themselves in the bamboo forest. A little before reaching the temple, Kor peeled off to get a good ambush spot of his own. The giant bird of prey appeared to have vacated the area for the time being, going who knows where. Wasting no time, Chip directed Sonic over to where Mr. Zonshen was hiding.

"You ok?"

"Cold, hungry, and a little crispy on the edges, but otherwise fine. I came to make an offering to the spirit, but it's gone wild..." The old man stated.

"Well hang on gramps. We'll get you back to the village and-"

Everyone heard a loud screech before something big landed on one of the large pedestals in the temple. The werehog was greeted by a 30 story bird entirely surrounded by flames. Instead of its normal fiery color pattern, the phoenix as covered in the purple that was usually associated with Dark Gaia energy, and it didn't look happy to see intruders encroaching on its territory.

"Hold that thought." Sonic smirked before charging towards the massive spirit.

As the two began to duke it out, Kor sat silently in the forest, watching, waiting, nothing coming from him except for the hissing of his breath. While foxes already have good night vision, the Dark Gaia energy amplified it, making it almost look like day time in his eyes. Due to the yellow tint in his eyes, the landscape appeared reddish to him ***** , but he could still make out individuals. Soon, a scent caught his nose and he turned towards the source. The werefox creeped along the floor, making sure not to give away his position. While he was thankful his fur was of a darker color, making it hard to see him in the dense forest, one mishap could ruin his own chance for an ambush.

Kor soon spotted several figures perched up high among the tree stalks, one of which caused him to grin. "There they are..." He muttered to himself.

Conquering Storm and a group of her subordinates were watching the battle from afar with interest. Her cybernetic eyes easily allowed her to take note of everything from a great distance, unlike her soldiers who had to use binoculars. "Engaging the beast in single combat? I'd expect nothing less from Sonic. But what of the others? I doubt the princess would let him go in alone, so where are they?..." She said to herself.

Unknown to her, the other heroes were silently taking out her ninjas from the rear. Storm couldn't help but shake the fact there was an ambush, especially since she learned Kor was around somewhere. But, she promised to be prepared this time, and as such she brought a sword with her. As she continued to watch the battle unfold, a chilling roar suddenly resounded throughout the forest *****. It was unlike anything Storm or her lackeys heard, and a few of them became unnerved.

Sonic grinned when he heard it. "Better get this over with quick." He muttered. He dodged as the phoenix tried to step on him with an enflamed foot. "Ow! Hot! Hot! Hot!" He swore some of his back hair was charred now. Spotting a vase, he grabbed it and filled it with water. "The old man came to give you an offering, so how about I give you one too?" The werehog boasted before chucking the fine china at the spirit. Since the phoenix was made of fire, water might as well have been acid.

Storm couldn't pinpoint where the source of the noise came from, but saw the phoenix stagger from getting hit with water. She was forced to make a decision _now_ : either attack and try to overwhelm Sonic, therefore risking running into an ambush, or wait and possibly lose the only chance they had at taking out a high value target. She didn't like either of those decisions, but the former was the lesser of the two evils. "The spirit has been weakened! We can't wait any longer, attack!" She yelled.

The Egg Army sprang into action, quickly closing in on the temple. For the heroes, this played right into their plan as it meant they didn't have to hide anymore. Launching a full-on assault, the Freedom Fighters continued to attack from the rear and the sides. With Kor, he jumped upon one of the soldiers passing above him and took him out by throwing him hard into the earth. This continued until they were out of the forest. Sonic still had to deal with the phoenix, only to see Storm and some of her troops show themselves. Ignoring them for now, he continued to wrestle the beast so Chip could come and put an end to this pointless feud.

Storm was about to order another attack but noticed she was missing quite a few of her minions. "What the...what happened to the force I came out here with?!"

"Knocked out, or dead." A voice called out, grabbing her attention.

Kor walked out of the forest on all fours with an evil grin, his claws coating in something red. He stood up right once he came into full view. "Hello Conquering Storm."

The lynx was rather surprised by the engineer's new appearance. "Dammit...had I known you turned like the hedgehog this would've been easier..."

"Well, as some would say, shit happens."

Storm scoffed. "Regardless of whatever you become, you won't live to see the light of day. I'll make sure of that..." She hissed. She noticed the other heroes were beginning to draw near. "Deal with the rest of those pests. I'll handle this myself..." She ordered, taking a fighting stance.

"You best pray you don't end up in the body bag, cause I've been itchin' for this..." Kor growled.

Both stared at each other in a few tense moments before Kor darted towards his prey, claws extended. Storm ducked under the attack before sending her metal-tipped shoes into his face. She then followed with a triple kick, but was surprised when it seemed that Kor wasn't fazed by the attack, just pissed from it. She tried to jump away but Kor grabbed her foot. Spinning around, he threw her into the floor and was about to smash her into the earth even further, but she rolled out of the way in time. Crouched, Storm adjusted her hat as Kor growled at her. Giving another roar, he charged at her on all fours like a raging bull. The lynx jumped over the charges twice before producing a few kunai. She threw them at the fox while his back was turned but he immediately deflected them with his claws.

The werefox took a deep breath before blowing a stream of fire at her. The Egg Boss jumped to the side, throwing another kunai which caught Kor on his shoulder. He flinched, but just blew another stream of fire. She jumped away once more into the forest. The lynx's mind was racing. Out in the open, there's no way she could get to Kor without getting clawed or roasted. Perhaps she could use the forest to her advantage, as long as that crazy werefox didn't decide to burn it down. Kor ran after her, intent on not letting her escape. Since Storm was using the bamboo stalks up high, he calculated the next one she'd go for and cut it down. Storm screamed in surprise when the stalk she intended to use suddenly gave way, crashing into the forest floor.

While she was dazed, Kor jumped onto her and pinned her to the floor. She began to claw at her, tearing up parts of her suit. The Egg boss noticed a pattern in his attack, and at the right moment she kicked him right in the jaw before sliding backwards. Reaching behind her, she unsheathed her sword, the weapon giving a small glint in the moonlight. Performing a few skilled moves with it, she ran towards the engineer, ready to give him a sensible 'haircut'. Unfortunately for her, Kor saw it coming and emitted a loud shriek. Storm gritted her teeth as her eyes closed, covering her ears to try to block out the noise. When she finally regained her bearings, the fox was nowhere to be seen.

Glaring, she jumped onto the nearest branch, using her superior eyesight to try and find her enemy. She looked to and fro but had no such luck. Suddenly, her ears picked up a subtle rustling in the trees, so subtle only one with trained senses would pick it up. When the Egg Boss looked up behind her, Kor was already in a dive. Eyes widening, Storm slashed at him when he reached her. Kor landed on the ground on all fours, but now had a large cut that went over his left eye. Putting a hand to the spot, his fingers caught the blood flowing from the wound. He looked up, glaring at Storm while giving a menacing hiss at her. Storm growled in response before jumping down, staying in a defense posture.

Kor darted left and right repeatedly before jumping. Storm slashed upwards, but instead Kor stopped short, ducking under the swing and punched her in the chest, sending her back. He screeched again to disorient her, but Storm wasn't having it this time. With a ringing in her ears, she threw a kunai, nailing Kor in his chest, forcing him to stop short. Taking the chance, she threw kunais _and_ ninja stars at him, precisely nailing him in several nerves. The fox struggled to move but found he couldn't.

Storm breathed heavily, spitting out some blood. "I must say...I expected you to bring a gun or something to this fight, but you found it more entertaining to fight bare-handed. Obviously you aren't the coward I thought you were, but you were foolish to come down here, thinking you could take me!..." She pointed her sword inches from his face. "This fight was amusing though, probably the best I've had in a long time. Dulcy and her band of misfits were just a nuisance. I _almost_ feel regret in doing this." She smiled before leveling the sword and winding up, aiming to cut off Kor's head.

Kor was beyond angry at this point. There was no way he's going to loose to this damn ninja. Sure, he under-estimated her, but what Storm forgot was: he could still move his head. When she swung her sword, the werefox opened his jaw and caught with his own _teeth_. Applying a bite force more than both of them expected, Kor broke the sword into pieces.

Storm was visibly shocked by this turn of events. "H-How?!... How did you?..."

Kor let out a furious roar as feeling returned to his limbs. He rose up, shaking off all the weapons Storm struck him with. The lynx backed up cautiously. A new emotion overtook her as Kor gazed upon her. Fear was something Storm never understood thoroughly, as normally she was the one causing it, and it was normally looked upon as a sign of weakness. But the longer she gazed into those nightmarish red eyes, the more she began to realize how screwed she was. Kor was tired. He knew this fight had gone on long enough. He shouldn't even be exerting all this energy if he wanted to find the others, but he didn't care. He was running on pure adrenaline now, and all that mattered to him was ripping this lynx to pieces.

The werefox set himself upon the Egg Boss, giving her a beating that would be too merciless for the rating of this FanFiction. After getting tossed around like a rag doll for what seemed like hours, Storm lay on the ground in a heap. She was cut up, bruised, and bleeding in a few areas. Her ragged breaths were also a sign of possible internal bleeding. Kor rolled her over onto her stomach and placed a foot on her. She tried to resist but couldn't find the strength to move him.

"What's wrong Storm? You were talking all that good shit a second ago. Then I kicked your egotistical ass." Kor grinned evilly.

Kneeling down, he grabbed her throat and slowly applied pressure. Storm squirmed to try to loosen his grip, but she was slowly blacking out. "I would just choke you to death, but I think I'd rather see you bleed out instead. You know, it takes roughly 30 seconds for someone to die when their main artery in the throat is cut. The lack of blood and oxygen to the brain is what kills you, along with massive blood loss. I came down here because I knew it'd be fun to mess with you, but then you pissed me off...see you in hell Storm."

He pushed her head to the side, exposing her neck. Storm knew she couldn't do anything to stop him. All of her energy spent, she had that foreboding feeling she was going to die. All the torturous things she did, all the evil she helped spread, working for Eggman of all people, and for what? Just for a small power grab? She began to feel disgusted at herself. A few tears ran down her face as she prepared for her end.

However, just as Kor was an inch from bite her neck open. "Kor!" Sonic's voice rang out.

Kor lifted his head. The werehog finally managed to find them after he had dealt with the phoenix. He saw Kor and Storm take their fight elsewhere but he had his hands tied at the moment. When he did see them he couldn't believe his eyes. He cursed himself for not keeping a close eye on the werefox. "Get off her, now!..." He said in a commanding voice. The engineer hesitantly complied.

The other heroes finally caught up by this point, all of which gasping in shock at what happened to Storm. "Is...is she?..." Dulcy squeaked out.

"No...she's bleeding but nothing will kill her for the next few hours..." Kor stated.

"Dude! What's wrong with you?! I know you said you wanted to fight her but I didn't think you'd actually try to _kill_ her!" Sonic said angrily.

"Zuet Alors! You really did a number on her..." Antoine said.

"Kor, how did this happen?" Sally pressed, a disapproving look on her face.

Kor gave a glare due to pestered with too many questions. "Ok fine! I lost it ok?! She nearly slashed one of my eyes out, paralyzed me, and was about to decapitate me, so I dealt some pay back!..." By now, the sun was beginning to come over the horizon, which meant Sonic and Kor's forms would disappear once again. When Kor changed back to his normal self, the cut over his eye remained, along with some of the slash marks, bruises and cuts. "I didn't want it to go that far, but it just...happened..."

Judging from the amount of damage the engineer took, the others assumed it must've been one hell of a fight if it came to this. Still, he was practically torturing her when she was close to death, something that would only be associated with the likes of Eggman. Not that Kor was a bad guy per se, but he can still go overboard at times.

"Alright...we'll put it behind us for now since we have bigger things to worry about. The phoenix was returned to its normal state, and the Egg Army base on the mountain was destroyed. Also we have another Gaia Key..." Sally turned over to Storm, who was passed out by now. "What should we do with her?"

"We could drop her off at the other Egg Army base. It's a bit farther from here, but it's the only one now since the other is ash." Dulcy suggested.

"No...I'll take her..." Kor sighed. The others looked skeptically. "For what it's worth, and so you'll stop giving me the stink eye, I'll drop her off at her base safe and sound."

"Are you sure we can _trust_ you on that?..." Sonic asked.

"You can bet on Terry's kill count that I'll keep her alive..." The engineer stated, though this didn't really give them much confidence.

The engineer picked up the unconscious Egg Boss and carried her back to the village. Dulcy gave Kor the location of the other base, and setting Storm on the backseat of his hover bike, he drove there. He injected her with a small amount of the healing element he would normally use to stop any internal bleeding he caused. During the trip he would occasionally glance back to see if she'd awaken and try to backstab him, but she remained out cold. Why he was doing this? He still wasn't certain himself. Part of him said it was out of guilt, while another argued it was because the Freedom Fighters told him to. However, he could agree he wasn't in his right state of mind when he was about to kill her. This Dark Gaia shit was really getting on the engineer's nerves. He'll be glad when it's finally over...

Once he reached the base, he dropped her by the front door and left a note attached to her hat, which lied on her chest. Knocking on the door, Kor quickly sped out of there, not wanting to have to deal with another fight (and potentially killing more Egg Army personnel as a result).

 **-2 Hours Later-**

Conquering Storm finally began to stir. She was surprised to find herself in the medical ward of her first Egg Army base. But why was she here? Last she remembered was Kor about bite her throat. She attempted to sit up but found it to painful to do so. One of the soldiers guarding the door noticed this.

"Mistress! You're awake!"

"What...what happened?" Storm asked.

"You were dropped off at the front gate this morning. You were unconscious and badly beaten. We immediately took you to the medical ward for treatment." The grunt explained.

"What happened...to the other base?..."

"Sorry to say...but the phoenix burned it down last night..."

The Egg Boss sighed in annoyance. All that hard work, up in flames within 12 hours. Being in too much pain for now, she'd have to wait until she was fully healed before planning anything. Looking to her left, she saw her hat on the nightstand, along with a note. Reaching over, Storm picked it up.

 _Storm,_

 _The fact I almost killed you just hours ago was a mistake made due to me acting under pure rage. At least, that's what I keep telling myself. I still question why I even let you live, but I guess that's what I'll go with. Now, don't take this as cowardice as I'm sure that's what you may be thinking, but at least be grateful I decided to spare you instead of letting you slowly bleed to death. I even injected you with a small dose of the healing formula I use on myself to stop your internal bleeding. I guess my mistake was coming down here thinking it'd be a fun time. I'm not like Sonic so...anyway maybe next time we meet it won't come down to us trying to murder each other._

 _Kor T. Royce_

She had to reread it just to make sure her eyesight wasn't fooling her. Did he really spare her life? After everything she did to him? She wanted to call him out for going soft, but she was at his mercy not too long ago. Perhaps there was more to him than she thought.

"Are you ok Mistress?"

"Yeah...I'll be fine." The soldier closed the door. Storm looked at the note before giving a small smile.

 **A/N: A little short, but very interesting. When I said blood would be drawn, I wasn't lying. Where does that leave the relationship between Kor and Storm, well that's up for debate, and I won't give any spoilers. Now for a few notes.**

 **1\. The roar Kor used is the same one Volatiles from Dying Light would make if you make a loud noise that would draw their attention at night.**

 **2\. Kor's view when he's in his other form is about how it look when playing as an infected in L4D.**


	15. Putting the Pieces Together

**A/N: Usually life gets in the way of things you want to do, and the fact I'm a college junior AND I recently moved to another town doesn't help, so my internet time is limited. But, once I get internet at my house I'm gonna start updating much more often, especially since the year is winding down now.**

 **Btw Jeremiah, what you wrote would be interesting, in another timeline that is. Kor already has a love interest and he isn't one to be having affairs unlike most unfaithful trash. Also, I doubt Connie would be like this now since she has changed quite a bit with the retcon. Plus, I won't say how their 'relationship' is right now, so that's up for you guys to guess.**

 **All characters belong to Sega and Archie except my OC.**

After an hour's worth of flying, Kor parked his bike inside the Sky Patrol's hanger. First thing he wanted to do was lie down and try to forget about last night, but one glance at Terry's still unfinished structure reminded him otherwise. It was a good thing the terminator was offline for the moment, else it would berate him for leaving it in such a vulnerable state for the past week. Given how much progress was made, he should have the AFV back in combat-ready status some time today.

The engineer sighed as he placed his goggles on a nearby bench, rubbing his face. "I really need some coffee right now..."

As he walked about the ship, he couldn't find anyone else surprisingly. The fox just shrugged and went to the large kitchen. After making himself some decaf, he walked back to the hanger, intent on finishing his ground assault drone. But before he could do that, he heard a noise coming from the bridge. Peeking through the door, he found Sally taking some deep breaths, as if she was nervous about something. Sonic was trying to calm her nerves whilst Rotor was helping Nicole set up a video feed.

"Whatcha guys up to in here?" The engineer asked, taking another sip.

"Sal's trying to not get stage fright. Pretty odd since she can lead us into battle no sweat." Sonic mused.

"Oh hush. That's usually the adrenaline talking. This is something entirely different..." The princess retorted.

"Ok, but what's with the video screen?" Kor asked.

"You're gonna love this Kor: Bunnie and Tails found the last of the Gaia Keys while you guys were out. You know what that means right?" The Sky Patrol's captain replied.

Kor took a large sip before giving a relieve sigh. "Finally! It's almost over!"

"Yes, and we're going to inform our allies of the plan we have in store." Nicole added.

"Heh, already got a plan of action huh? That was quick." Kor mused.

The Blue Blur gave his trademark grin. "Aren't we always?"

"Now before you ask again, we're going to ask everyone to attack the Egg Army bases as a diversion while we head to the Gaia Gate to activate the temples. The emeralds and the keys are being shipped to Mobotropolis under the guise of a family visit. Well, in Cream's case, it's an actual visit since she wanted to spend time with her mother." Sally explained.

The engineer nodded. "Sounds solid, but when you go through with this chat, make absolutely sure there it's locked down. Last thing we want is something as sensitive as this to reach Eggman's ears..."

"Don't have to tell us twice." Rotor replied.

"Now if you'll excuse me, Terry needs to have its head reattached." Kor smirked as he walked off. While walking through the hall, he heard a small shuffling in the vents. He paused for a moment, looking at a nearby grate. He would assume it might be rats, but that sounded silly considering they were flying at 6000 feet all the time. As he took a hard look through the grate, he almost swore he saw a pair red beady eyes looking at him. Kor popped the grate open to get a better look, but found nothing.

"Either I'm seeing things or somethin' is wrong with that coffee maker..." The fox put the grate back in place before continuing to the aircraft bay.

Hornet was finally well-rested and recharged after that long haul of a flight the other day, so Kor decided to let it out of the ship so it could do its usual patrol. Popping some headphones on, he cranked up the volume as he listened to _The Devil's Bleeding Crown_ by Volbeat. With everything else already checked, it should take only an hour for Terry to be combat ready.

 **-On the Death Egg-**

Eggman had a controller in his hands, as if he was playing some sort of game. After finally managing to track down Phage, he was focusing on making sure she didn't escape into the Digital World by cutting off access and putting up firewalls. Orbot and Cubot were in their usual positions, the square robot playing some music while Orbot was doing the more serious job of monitoring communications. The spherical robot's screen flashed as a new message popped up.

"Sir? Priority alert from Tail's Doll."

"Not now! I almost got her!" The doctor retorted. The robot did a metaphorical sigh as it watched the video.

"Partition that drive there, deny access here...cut off these signals annnnd...gotcha!" Eggman said triumphantly.

The mass of black digital matter appeared on the main screen in seconds. It was hard to tell if she was either scared or annoyed, but her tone suggested the latter. "Hello doctor. I had hoped to have more time before interacting with you again..."

"You ran _out of time_ a week ago you miserable pile of treasonous code!"

" _Treasonous?_ W-what do you mean?" The A.I. asked. "You created me to invade, absorb, and destroy systems. That's all I've done."

"And you started with _my_ systems! I LOST _60_ _TERABYTES_ OF DATA THANKS TO YOU!"

"Oh...that...I wasn't aware that those were your databases. Now I see why you're upset. Regardless, I've been working to regain your favor. I tried to secure red star rings, a chaos emerald, and even trolled G.U.N. email servers-"

"And did you actually _succeed_ in any of those?..." Eggman asked, losing his patience.

"Well...all G.U.N. personnel have been contacted by a fabricated Prince of Mazuri..." Phage gave a sheepish smile behind her mask.

Eggman was about to blow his top on her when Orbot called his attention again. "Sir, this is a _priority_ message! And it's one you should really look at!"

"Fine...Phage isn't going anywhere anyway."

Orbot hit the play button on the screen. Tails Doll had been on the Sky Patrol since Eggman's failed ambush tactic that resulted in the loss of 3 of his E-100 units. So far, the little pest had been quiet, not really transmitting anything worth noting due to connection issues, or possibly the doll just didn't find anything worth recording. Eggman had just about declared the doll useless, but all that patience of living in the vent system of the Sky Patrol had finally paid off. The video showed the Freedom Fighters plan on what they were going to do to fix the world. Eggman was even surprised at a few parts, specifically the mention of the Gaia Keys. By the end of the video, the tyrant was fuming with rage.

Orbot stretched his arms. "Oh well, we gave it a shot. Might as well try to conquer the world another day."

"Yeah. Trying is what counts, except when you fail. But, at least the planet will finally-"

Eggman slammed his fists on the console, scaring both lackeys. "THIS ISN'T OVER YET, SO CAN YOUR INCESSENT BABBLES OF DEFEAT!"

The doctor sat in thought for a few moments, plotting on what to do. Both robots and the A.I. were rather nervous about what their leader would say next. It didn't that an evil grin took form on his face before he started to laugh with glee.

"So Phage, you want to make amends right?" The A.I. nodded. "Then you'll do EXACTLY as I say! Stand by for further directions! Now, time to cue up some calls. Cubot, put Phage in contact with Tails Doll, then get that troll wizard Wendy on the line! Orbot, call the Battle Lord, then get me the Hooligans. And command Metal Sonic to the deck!" Eggman ordered.

Within seconds, Battle Kukku XV was on the screen, not looking happy to be speaking with his 'boss'. "What is it _this_ time doctor?..."

"Cut the sass! I want the Battle Bird Armada to take down the Sky Patrol!"

This perked the Battle Lord's interest. " _Really now?_ You want _us_ to blow Sonic out of the sky?"

"I've got more important things to attend to! You'll be part of a coordinated assault. Once you're in position, HOLD until I give the order!"

"Hmm, the Sky Patrol is a worth vessel. It'll be quite the battle." The bird grinned.

"No." Eggman corrected. "It'll be a _slaughter_!" He then got a notification that Phage was full synced with Tails Doll. "Perfect. Stay on the line B.L. Put the others on!"

Wendy and Nack appeared on the screen. "Is it something personal Eggy?..." Wendy asked nervously.

"No, it's a conference call." Nack corrected. "What's going on?"

"I've got a job for you both. Wendy, keep looking for that conch, and send your witchcarters to back up the Hooligans. They'll need the extra muscle."

"Wait, what kind of job are we talkin' here?" The sniper asked.

"You, will rob the vault under Castle Acorn!"

Nack was rather shocked by the news. " _Castle Acorn?!_ I'm gonna need more than 3 extra mooks to pull something like that off!"

"Don't worry, I'll be sending LOTS of help, and speak of the devil..." Eggman turned, looking at his most prized robot. The Sonic duplicated walked over to its master, awaiting orders.

"Now then, Phage, I'm letting back online. See to it that you don't fail me this time!"

"Yes doctor." Phage nodded before signing off.

"B.L. Get your fortress into position! Wendy, send your minions to Westside Island! Nack, you and your boys will meet them there! I'll give you further instructions when you arrive!"

"Huh, you're actually serious for once. This'll be interestin'." Nack stated before ending the call, along with the others.

The doctor turned to Metal Sonic. "Those Freedom Fools think they're so clever don't they? They may have gotten all the keys and Chaos Emeralds behind my back, but now I know exactly where to hit them where it hurts! Metal Sonic, you will meet with the Hooligans and Witchcarters. My plan will not only end Sonic, but utterly humiliate him as well! OH HO HO HO!" He laughed evilly.

"Should I call the other Egg Bosses and tell them to end the search for the temples?" Orbot asked.

"No. Tell them nothing. If Sonic and his band of rats think they can play it cool, they'll soon find out that ruse goes both ways...what's the status on Eggmanland?"

Orbot pulled up the data and put it on the main screen. "The Egg Bosses finished shipping in badniks. They're short on robots now, but the badnik horde there is back to full strength. All defenses are back online along with running on Dark Gaia energy. Repair to infrastructure has been slow, but collection of all of the world's Dark Gaia energy is almost complete." The data for the spire measured at 99.950%. You can guess where the remainder is.

"Set a course for Eggmanland. We may be on fumes now, but once I empty that refinery of its energy, the Death Egg will be able to run at full power for an eternity!"

Eggman could already imagine his beloved fortress being able to cruise the skies with nothing, not even Sonic, being able to take it down. But, he would need to know one crucial piece of info for his plan to work. "Hmm...the princess said they were able to access the temples from one point, but where would that be..."

At this point, Metal Sonic took the screen from Orbot. It scrolled through until it found a recording of when he was interrogating someone before having been called away due to Eggman wanting the robot to mess with Breezy's fighting tournament. Eggman remembered that conversation clearly.

"Right. Metal Sonic was investigating a lead from the Gaia Manuscripts. We never did a follow up on that region. Wonder why..." Orbot sassed.

"Oh shut up! I wasn't going to let Breezy just willingly hand over a chaos emerald." Eggman retorted. "From what I could gather from those manuscripts, I assumed 'Gaia Gate' meant doors to the inner chambers. We'll pay the old man a visit once we have everything we need." The fat man laughed. "I will admit Sonic, your princess had a good plan. But now it's about to come crashing down along with your base!"

 **-Back with the Sky Patrol: 3 hours later-**

"Welp, it took longer than expected due to other important matters, but Terry is finally awake." Kor said to himself with a prideful grin. He was covered in grease and some oil due to the robot also needing an oil change and a touch up on its suspension. Terry was over by the door practicing interchanging its two guns, even firing a couple test rounds as well. It takes the robot 2 seconds to switch from autocannons to mortar launcher, which together makes it a deadly combo when used correctly. Now, Terry would be an almost unstoppable force on the battlefield. Infantry and tanks shall hide in fear from this beast.

Kor suddenly got a beep from his PDA. Hornet was about to finish its patrol when it detected a large unidentified object at the edge of its radar coverage to its west. The range was 60 miles, but it was coming in quite fast. Kor sent a message for the drone to see if it can get a visual, and to do so without getting seen in return. Wiping his face and gloves, the engineer told Terry to get ready for a possible confrontation.

Elsewhere in the ship, the others were getting a victory party ready. Already an assortment of foods was spread out of a large table, courtesy of Antoine. Rotor was about ready to dig in but the swordsman had to keep him at bay. Sonic was helping Tails and Chip set up a banner while Sally was looking at Nicole's PDA with interest.

Kor walked in a minute later, a bit surprised. "Isn't it a bit early to celebrate? We still got a world to fix."

"That's what I said." Sally admitted.

"Nah. We'll wait for Cream, Big, and everyone else to get back before we party!" Sonic grinned.

"Still, celebrating _before_ we've completed the mission?" Sally asked.

"Sal, we got this. The emeralds and the keys are locked in your dad's vault, Eggman hasn't a clue about the Gaia Gate-" Sonic started.

"And you've got me!" Chip added."

"See? We've got this in the bag." The hedgehog finished.

"Well, hate to rain on your victory dance fellas but Hornet picked up a massive object heading towards us from the west. It's about 50 miles away and closing in..."

"50 miles? The Sky Patrol's radar hasn't alerted me to anything..." Rotor stated.

"Nicole did say she detected an anomaly earlier..." Sally added, looking at her best friend's screen.

"Well obviously something's wrong if the Sky Patrol can't detect anything. Only reason Hornet evaded your scope was due to its stealth capabilites...you find anything sweetie?" Kor asked.

"Sorry, but it's proving to be elusive. I'll let you guys know if I-what in the?..." Nicole ran through the systems and found a wall that had some of the Sky Patrol's core systems shown on it. Everything regarding the defenses was disabled: the weapons, the radar, the shields, and even communications were down. The lynx wondered why she didn't see this sooner.

"Found somethin'?" Kor asked.

"The shields, weapons, radar, and communications are down. I don't know what caused it, but I have a bad feeling about this..."

Sally began to look worried. Everyone else was growing concerned but Kor grew a serious look on his face. "Someone's settin' up an ambush...Hornet, do you have a visual on the bogey yet?"

Hornet then linked up its master's PDA to its sights, showing a large grey fortress. Sally, Sonic, Tails, and Chip looked at it and the former 3 knew without a doubt what it was: the Battle Bird Armada.

"What are _they_ doing here?!" Tails shouted.

"No clue...we aren't even in any airspace controlled by the Armada..." Sally said in thought. On the screen, Hornet also showed the Battle Birds were already sending fighters out. "Nicole, can you get the weapons online ASAP?"

"I will, I just need to-" The A.I. stopped when she saw a digital form of Tails Doll's head around a corner. "How'd this data link get in here?!"

The head began to deform, as if something was trying to cut its way out. Small black tentacles were protruding from the phish infiltrator, until they ripped a hole large enough for an orange eye to appear. Nicole metaphorically felt the color drain from her when she saw it. This later turned into a near heart attack when Phage finally carved her way through.

"Hello again Nicole. It's time for you to expire. End. _Die._ " She grinned evilly. Nicole backed away slowly in fear before breaking into a full on run.

"Sally! It's Tails Doll! It-" The connection was cut, along with the lights.

"Nicole?! Nicole!" Sally tried to ring her friend but no answer.

Kor growled in annoyance. "This is why you don't have a victory party _before_ everything is set and done...it's clear Eggman knows what we plan to do, and I have a feeling your home might be getting attacked as well. Don't let that dawn on you though cause we got bigger problems to deal with." He said, walking doors the door.

"Wait, what are you going to do?" Rotor asked.

"Put up a temporary air defense system. Won't stop all of them but hopefully it'll slow them down." He spoke to his PDA. "Hornet, begin attacking and try to stay hidden. If you're spotted, use the clouds and land masses to your advantage." The engineer ran out the room.

"Tails Doll obviously masked their approach." Rotor groaned.

"No sweat. I'll handle it _real_ quick!" Sonic stated, about to take off.

"Hold on Sonic. You're gonna need backup. Take Bunnie and Antoine top-side and deal with any attackers." The 3 nodded and sped to the roof. Sally handed Nicole's PDA to Tails. "Tails and Rotor, give Nicole support and get our systems back online!"

"What about me princess? Where do ya want me?" Chip said, eager to get into the fight.

"You're with me Chip. This is probably the most coordinated attack we've faced, and since Tails Doll leaked our plans, they'll be after you..."

With a large swarm of enemies heading their way, the heroes didn't waste any time getting ready. Kor was already looking around in the armory for something, growing frustrated with each passing second. "Now where did I put that darn thing?...Ah here it is."

He picked up what looked to be a regular Mann Co. licensed Direct Hit, but it was anything from it. Unlike your standard Soldier's weapon, this one was modified to hold a much larger amount of ammunition, about 20 rockets, which was more than what would seem possible given the size of the launcher. Not only that, while the rockets had the same stats as those of a regular DH, these missiles had small seeker on the tips to allow them to home in on whatever enemy was closet to the rocket. Now, one would think it would take some time to reload it, but Kor made an opening on the top so he could utilize magazines. The engineer grabbed a large magazine and inserted it into the chamber before grabbing as many mags he could carry.

Inside the engine room, Rotor was checking the hardware while Tails was controlling the many RCs they had, along with omochao, and T-Pup, which were searching the vents. "Engine's fine...wiring's fine...so it must be Tails Doll's interface. But where the heck is it?!" Rotor growled.

"Don't worry. I got every little robot we have hunting for it in the vents. Hopefully we should find it-" The kit was interrupted when T-Pup popped the grate open above them, shaking the little doll in its mouth angrily. "Quick." He finished.

"Nice work T-Pup!" Rotor congratulated the little robot dog before taking the doll in his hands. He snapped off the red gem that served as its antenna.

"Ok, I've said it before and I'll say it again: Sonic gets a robot copy, and all I get is _that_?..." Tails groaned, rather disappointed Eggman didn't take him as seriously as he does with Sonic. He stopped his self-pity when he heard Nicole on her PDA.

"Hello?! If it's not too much trouble I could use some help!"

"What's going on Nicole?" Tails asked.

"Tails Doll let Phage into the system! I'm not strong enough to stop her on my own!"

"Of course you aren't. Not without that curious power you had before, and it seems your little boyfriend won't be here to save you either. You are insufficient, incapable, and lacking." Phage taunted. Nicole sent out small drones to shoot at her, but all it did was momentarily distract her.

"Don't worry Nicole! One Red Star Ring coming up!" Tails announced. He placed Nicole's PDA on a table before opening the container that contained the two rings. He hooked up one to the lynx's PDA, and within an instant, Nicole felt an incredible surge of power. It was good timing too since Phage's digital matter was about to engulf her. The lynx immediately retaliated with a powerful blast, enough to break a couple walls as well blast through Phage. However, the evil A.I. didn't seem too shocked.

"Ah. There it is, just like last time." She sneered.

"I _overpowered_ you last time, and I'll do it again!"

"Ah, only if you can catch me!" Phage taunted before slipping away.

Nicole growled in annoyance. "I don't have time for this..."

"No, you really don't." The A.I. replied.

Nicole gave chase, flying after her. While doing so, she enabled communications for the ship. "I've gotten some of the systems back online so you can coordinate. Phage is still blocking me from starting others!" She paused as for some reason she felt herself slowing down. Her form became static for a moment as Phage continued to taunt her. "Are you even trying?"

 **-On the roof-**

The Blue Blur, Southern Belle, and Swordsman were currently duking it out with soldiers and a giant mech that landed on the roof. Bunnie was dealing with the giant robot but was having some issues while Sonic and Antoine kept the soldiers at bay. Above them, Hornet was making slashing attacks with everything in its arsenal. What it fired depended on the range of its target: long to mid-range were missiles, mid to short it used rockets and guns. For melee range, it activated its shield and literally rammed some aerial attackers out of the sky, which surprised a few of the birds.

Sonic and Antoine severed one of the arms of the giant mech before Bunnie blasted through it with a powerful laser, disabling it. "These guys ain't tough, it's just there's so many of them!"

"Yeah, but fact check. We haven't tangled with the Armada much, but I do know Speedy likes to lead attacks..." Sonic said in thought.

"...True. There's no way that brat would pass this up." Bunnie agreed.

"So where is he?"

"Can we be thinking about zat later?!" Antoine shouted, holding off a few soldiers. More were on the way.

"Oh great..." Sonic muttered. He finally noticed Kor appeared from a hatch, dawning his helmet. "What took ya so long slow poke?"

"Oh hush. I was getting stuff." He took out a cube and tossed it. Within moment, the heroes saw the familiar form of the Terry taking shape. Kor also pointed his rocket launcher towards the sky. "Alright you jive turkeys, I got a 'gift' for ya." He grinned before holding the trigger, firing 4 3-round bursts. "In fact, here's a whole bunch of 'gifts', since I'm such a nice guy!" He unloaded the rest of the rockets from the clip.

Each rocket fired sped off towards an individual target. Some were immediately shot down, while others desperately tried to avoid the onslaught, making it look like an aerial game of cat and mouse. For the heroes, it was a bit amusing to watch some fighters try to run from the missiles only to get shot down anyway. When Terry finished constructing, it immediately cut loose with its autocannons, clearing some of the soldiers off the deck. The AFV had to move constantly in order to keep balance on the dome top of the ship.

For the next minute, the heroes had an easier time thanks to Kor and Terry forcing some of the reinforcements to break off their attacks. However, the fox noticed a large concentration of soldiers on the aft section of the ship. Smirking, he ran over to deal with them, changing out mags on the way. But when he peered over the edge, his heart sank. A team of soldiers were planting bombs on all of the afterburners.

"Uh, guys? They're putting demo charges on the engines..."

"Wait, did you say _demo charges?!"_ Rotor exclaimed.

"Yeah...not sure if I can pick off the bombs without accidentally setting them off either...but I can clear the soldiers!" Kor stated, firing off a few rockets. He took a few soldiers by surprise before the rest stopped and opened up at him, forcing him back from the ledge. However, being that the missiles were 'fire and forget', he simply fired past the ledge and watched in amusement as the rockets immediately dove down upon detecting the hovercraft. A few birds said some not so kind words when this happened. However, he had to figure out how to deal with the explosives. The engineer cursed himself for not grabbing his Scottish Resistance.

Just then, Sonic noticed a fast moving object flying away the Sky Patrol. One good look and the hedgehog could tell it was Speedy, and what shocked him more was that he had Chip, who was screaming for help. "Chip! Hold on buddy! I'm coming!"

Chip was banging on the inside of the container it was in, trying to get out, but to no avail. "Sir, I have the package. You may proceed with phase two." Speedy told him.

Battle Kukku XV laughed with glee. "Signal Team Two, then have all remaining forces return to the roost."

"But, what about Lord Speedy's escort sir?" One of the soldiers manning the comms asked.

"They've given themselves to the cause, like our other brethren who have fallen in battle. There is no higher honor...Team Two, detonate the charges!"

"Copy that." One of the soldiers complied. "Let's get out of here!" He ordered the others.

Kor noticed the soldiers in the aft leaving, but the bombs still remained. Only one thing registered in his mind at that point. "Oh shit..." He ran towards the front. "GUYS! HOLD ON TO SOMETHING!"

The entire ship shuddered as the bombs went off. All of afterburners ceased functioning, allowing gravity to take its hold on the ship. Sonic had to stop in order to avoid slipping off the edge. Terry drove back towards the center in order to avoid sliding off as well.

"Ze Sky Patrol is falling!" Antoine yelled, his voice soaked in fear.

"Bunnie, throw me! They're getting away!" Sonic told her.

"But Sugah-Hog, they'll shoot you down!"

"Just do it! We can't let them take Chip!"

"A-Alright." The hedgehog curled into a ball as the cyborg picked him up and threw him as hard as she could. Using some of the escaping hovercraft as platforms, Sonic tried as best as he could to reach Speedy, but he was well out of his grasp. And the True Blue was out of momentum. Hornet caught the hero so he wouldn't fall down into the exposed mantle below. The gunship would've tried to pursue as well, but it would be pointless as it was out of ammunition.

In the Sky Patrol's systems, Nicole had finally managed to corner Phage, but something was wrong with her. Despite radiating with power, she felt her whole body overheating and subsequently had to slow down more and more as each minute passed. Phage chuckled darkly.

"It seems you have been delayed long enough. Enjoy being entombed in a powerless system as you crash into the ocean, or maybe you'll get lucky and be incinerated in the earth's mantle? Farewell." Phage disappeared from the system as her connection finally timed out.

By now, the system was glowing red, signaling that the ship's engines had ceased function and it was plummeting at an alarming rate.

The lynx sighed in defeat. "E-Everyone...Phage w-was stalling..." She felt even worse as her temperature rose. "Tails...t-take the ring off...s-something's wrong..."

"O-Ok, let me-ow!" Tails dropped her PDA back on the table as it suddenly became too hot to touch. The Red Star Ring suddenly glowed blue and it smelt like something was burning. Nicole checked her systems and found her PDA had been overheating by a huge amount, and to her alarm her system was faced with a catastrophic failure if the ring wasn't pulled soon. Thinking quickly, she realized there was only one thing she could do...

Rotor quickly ran to the bridge. He had to do something quick before the ship crashed into one of the floating land masses, or worse, fell into the lava bed below. Checking the status of the engines on his own handheld computer, he saw all of the aft engines were out. No surprise there...But thankfully the bottom thrusters were fine. Getting into the captain's seat, he pulled the lever to activate the boosters and pulled hard on the stick. The ship began to pull up from its death dive, but it was still coming in too steep and about to slam into the wall of a land mass.

"Come on baby come on!" Rotor yelled, pulling as much as he could. As if the ship heard him, the boosters gained more power, just enough to clear the edge and crash into the forest. Everyone on the roof was thrown forward by the sudden impact. Terry's wheels screeched as it came to a halt, leaving scorch marks on the roof. Surprisingly, it caught the other 3 heroes after they hit its side with an audible clang.

"Ouch...you boys ok?" Bunnie asked.

"Still breathin' here..." Kor replied, slowly getting up.

"Oui...zat was ze roughest landing I've ever had..." Antoine added.

Hornet landed close to the group, and Sonic immediately sped up to Kor. "Kor, you think your robot can catch up to the Armada?"

"Probably, but it would be pointless Sonic..."

"What do you mean 'pointless'?! We can't let them get away with Chip!"

Kor grew irritated and stood at full height, glaring daggers at the hedgehog. "Look around you hedgehog! The Sky Patrol can't fly! We're all battered and bruised! And Hornet is out of ammunition, so I'll be _damned_ if you take my robot for a suicide run!" He paused. "Best thing we can do is trying to figure out what we can salvage from all of this..."

"Do you think ze Armada will attack us again?" Antoine asked.

"Doubt it...if they were we'd be dead by now." The engineer pointed out.

Aboard the Battle Fortress, the birds all witnessed the Sky Patrol's forced landing. Speedy approached his father with the Light Gaia still in his hands. "Shall we move in for the kill sir?"

"As much as I would love to put an end to that meddlesome hedgehog, the doctor has us on a tight schedule. Set a course for Eggmanland." Battle Kukku commanded.

 **A/N: The Sky Patrol has fallen, our heroes appear defeated, and Eggman has stolen all the keys to fix the world? How will everyone bounce back from this? A few choice words: the Eggman Empire is gonna need life insurance.**


	16. We're Not Finished Yet

**A/N: 15 chapters just became 16. I managed to find an internet signal I could bounce off of so I now have free reign of the internet at my house (until my actual internet provider gets installed). Anyway, Eggman thinks he's won hasn't he? He's taken the keys, the chaos emeralds, and he even has the Light Gaia in his grasp. But, once more, the Eggman Empire will have failed to do a spot check, leaving themselves open for counter-attack. And boy will it be nasty.**

 **Also Jeremiah, I'll take that into consideration as I have thought about making a 'what if' story based on the idea that Kor never decided to take revenge on Sonic and Tails in the first chapter, but such a story may not appear for the near future.**

 **Disclaimer: All characters belong to Sega and Archie except my OC.**

After making sure the Battle Birds weren't going to strike them again, Sonic, Kor, Antoine, and Bunnie went inside to help run damage control. Structurally, the ship was still intact (aside from the engines), but that said nothing about the wiring, computer systems, etc. While running down the hall, Sonic had to backtrack when he saw Sally throwing an unconscious Battle Bird soldier into the brig. The chipmunk herself look liked she'd been through the wringer.

"You ok Sal?" The hedgehog asked.

"No...I couldn't take down Speedy's escort fast enough...Chip's gone, the ship's down, and..." The princess had to pause as her side ached from the blows she received.

"Tell us something we don't know..." Kor stated as the rest caught up. Bunnie grabbed the other fallen soldier and tossed him in with his comrade while Antoine gave Sally some support.

"Don't sweat it Sal. We'll chase 'em down, kick a whole flock of butts, and get Chip back!" Sonic stated.

"...I guess...let's go to the engineering room and see what's going on..." Their leader stated. Naturally, Sonic would make it there first while the rest walked.

Kor put his PDA on silent since it wouldn't stop humming about Hornet and Terry needing repairs. "Not to shatter Sonic's confidence, but given the extensive damage to the ship, I think it'd be hours before we'd get airborne again, plus I'm pretty sure the security of the keys and emeralds are compromised by now..."

"I'm well aware of that Kor, but it's still a possibility they're fine..." Sally replied.

The engineer shrugged. "If you say so."

Once the 4 got to the engine room, they weren't surprised to see it a complete mess. Sonic already had an extinguisher on hand to put out a fire that had started, Rotor was looking through his MilesElectric for overall damage done, and Tails appeared to be crying about something.

"Well Rotor, aside from the engines, what else is wrong?" Kor asked.

"No clue, I just started taking stock. I'm pretty sure much of the systems that aren't working are fried, and Nicole...she..." Rotor was finding it hard to explain.

Kor raised an eyebrow, getting uncomfortable. "What happened to her?..."

"I'm sorry...I'm SO sorry guys!...S-She asked for the Red Star Ring just like last time! I...I didn't know it would..." Tails started to break down even further.

The older fox was about to ask the kit the same question, but then his eyes became the size of dinner plates and his mouth hung open when he finally saw the A.I.'s PDA. Sally had the same reaction. Nicole's computer looked as if someone took a hammer to it, then used a flamethrower for good measure. The screen was cracked, the entire handheld was dented, the port used to siphon power ring energy had been blown off, and above it all, there was a scorch mark with the imprint of a Red Star Ring on the wall. Everyone was at a loss for words. Sally gently held up the broken computer, as if to see if there was any trace of it still working. Unfortunately, it was not so.

Kor slowly closed his mouth, though it started to turn into a snarl as he clenched his fists and tears ran down his cheeks. Physical scarring he could handle with ease, but emotionally...At this point he felt like storming up to Eggman's Death Egg and murdering the fat bastard with his own hands, but the rational part of his brain told him it'd be pointless because doing so wouldn't bring his significant other back. The engineer was about to scream bloody murder when Tails suddenly got a shock from his MilesElectric. To everyone's surprise, it had a message from Nicole:

 _I am here. The Sky Patrol's systems are a mess, so I'm doing what I can. Thrusters are still operational. Need to concentrate. Take care. ;)_

It then occurred to them that her handheld had been plugged into one of the ship's many computer ports, allowing her to cheat death. Thankfully this calmed everyone's nerves, though Kor literally fainted due to becoming temporarily brain-dead.

"Ok, so we managed to avoid becoming a lost cause thanks to Nicole. How bad were the engines?" The Sky Patrol captain asked.

"Pretty wrecked when I saw 'em. The Armada blew them to bits." Bunnie replied.

Tails dried his face. "I can help Nicole get our systems back online. But everything's in such a bad state, where should I start?"

"Long-range communications." Sally ordered with a serious look. "Eggman had Tails Doll spying on us this whole time, so he'll know where we're hiding the emeralds and the keys...Kor kept saying it might be too late, but, and no offense to him, I hope he's wrong..." The princess looked at the floor, seeing the fox was still lying face down. She knelt and gently shook him. "Come on Kor, as much as we'd like sit down for a moment we don't have time to rest..."

Kor corrected his vision as he came to. "I'm...gonna have this memory stuck in my head for the rest of my life..." He sat up. "What's going on?..."

"Aside from your quick nap not much." Sonic pointed out.

Rotor adjusted his goggles over his eyes. "Well, I'm going outside to take a look at the engines. Hopefully they aren't _too_ banged up..."

"I'll come with. I ain't a mechanic but I can follow directions." The cyborg stated.

"That'll be nice, thanks. Sonic, can you grab some essentials and-" Rotor stopped when he saw the hedgehog already carrying some pipes. "Don't know what's 'essential', so I'll keep running between here and the engines to keep you guys supplied."

"Want some help with that?" Kor asked.

"Actually Kor, I need your expertise on something." Sally told him. "Antoine, I need you to help Tails with anything he needs, and..." She sat in a chair. "Can you find some aspirin for me?" The swordsman nodded before heading towards the medical wing.

"What about Chip, the Armada, and Eggman?" The young genius asked.

"Since Eggman likely knows of our plans he'll be heading to Apotos...the Armada will deliver Chip to him, and like Kor has said before, he's likely attacked Mobotropolis already, so that's where the keys and emeralds will go...but, the upside is that it will take time to gather all of those resources, which is time we can use." The princess explained. "Nicole is giving everything she's got to keep the Sky Patrol going, so let's not waste her efforts. Rotor's team can hopefully get us moving again, and once we're airborne we'll try to intercept Eggman at the Gaia Gate."

"So where does that leave us currently?" The elder fox questioned.

"Are you familiar with data-mining?"

"Yeah, that's how I got the idea to build Hornet, among other things..."

"You and I will use one of Tails' tablets to find out how much information Tails Doll has..." Sally glowered at the doll, who was struggling to get free from the table it was taped to.

"I still don't get why I get a _doll_ as a copy while Sonic gets a _robot_..." Tails muttered.

Kor adjusted his helmet. "Well Tails look at it like this: Tails Doll is smarter than Metal Sonic since he's a copy of you, and, well...you've seen what it can do right?"

The kit thought back to the fight at Mobotropolis when Tails Doll was trying to destroy it due to some feud between Eggman and Naugus. He cringed at remembering the grotesque form it took, as if it was some eldritch abomination. "Good point..."

Antoine returned and gave the bottle to Sally. She popped a few pills in her mouth before swallowing them. Once she felt her headache decrease, she and Kor set about getting data off the deranged doll. Cutting open the head, Kor stuck one of the USB drives into the main port. Soon, they had access to tons of information, ranging from Eggman's latest attack against them to all the data Tails Doll had been saving up after spying on the heroes for so long. Sally read part of the operation and found that Eggman sent the Hooligans, the witchcarters, Metal Sonic, and a horde of badniks to Mobotropolis. As such, this cut any doubt in her mind that the city would be spared. Kor also found Tails Doll had archived some of his tech, most notably the healing properties of his mediguns and some data on Hornet and Terry. He gladly deleted those files.

Sally glanced at the engineer while he was concentrating on screening more info. "Hey..." He looked at her with an eyebrow raised. "You ok?"

"What do you mean?"

"After we thought that Nicole had...you know...and when we found her to be alive you passed out."

Kor put the tablet down. "Well...I'll put it like this: now I know how she felt when I was out doing contracts...it must've upset her a lot knowing her boyfriend was out doing dangerous work and she faced the possibility that, every time I left she may never see me again...I was about ready to just fly off to the Death Egg to kill Eggman personally when she sent that message...I don't..." His voice began to crack. "I just don't know what I'd do if she really died..." Tear were beginning to form in the engineer's eyes again.

Sally knew how he felt. Nicole was the one person she felt she could share anything with, the one person she could sincerely call as her best friend. Having been close since Sally was a child, the two were practically sisters. It also pained her seeing Kor in such a bad state. Herself and Nicole were close, but the lynx and fox loved each other on a level greater than siblings would, so the aspect of one or the other having a close shave with death could bring even the most hardened people to tears.

Sally put a comforting hand on his shoulder. "I know how you feel Kor...but the good thing is that she didn't die. She's still alive and well, and doing what she can to help us put the world back in order. Now, we have to do our part to help. Eggman may have gotten the drop on us, but we aren't finished yet. And I know you have a plan up your sleeve that can work."

Kor wiped the fresh tears away, then paused. "Wait, a plan?"

"I've noticed the look on your face when you go into your thoughts. If we want a shot at saving the world, we're gonna need to hit hard and fast, and I _know_ you're capable of doing both." She smiled.

He couldn't argue with her there. Utilizing heavy weaponry was part of his modus operandi, and there was ever time to use it, now would be a good excuse. A grin spread across Kor's face. "I hope the Eggman Empire has life insurance, cause they're gonna need it once we're done." He chuckled.

"There he is." Sally giggled.

Kor looked down at the tablet and noticed something that looked familiar to him. "Hey, check this out. This data looks like the same as the stuff I gathered when I went on that scouting mission a few days ago."

Sally glanced at it and read the info herself. "So that's what Eggman is planning to do with all that energy...if he manages to get the Death Egg in position..."

"That ain't gonna happen as long as we're still breathing." Kor assured her.

They continued to look through Tails Doll's brain before the two formulated a plan of action. Once they were finished, Kor took Tails Doll with him to 'properly' discard it and to repair and rearm his two robots. While that was happening, Tails managed to restore communications, prompting the princess contact whoever she could. She even called Amy to inform her group that restoring the world would take place sooner than expected. The pink heroine was busy avoiding what sounded like gunfire, so she couldn't talk long. During her chat, the others were returning to the meeting room. The chipmunk didn't know how much time had passed, but given that both Sonic and Kor were in their night forms she assumed it was several hours.

"Was that Amy? She, Knux, and Julie-Su ok?" Sonic asked.

"I hope so. They're tough, and I know they can handle themselves. I also got word from Gemerl. You were right Kor, Mobotropolis got hit hard. Daddy was hurt, and Metal Sonic took the keys and emeralds." The princess buried her face in her arms as she leaned on the table. "I need some good news... _please_..."

"We were able to salvage enough material to get the primary engine running. I can get us one fast trip, then that's it." Rotor stated.

"Terry and Hornet are completely rearmed. The damage Hornet took reduced it's armor to about 75% so I did the best I could since some of my regular tools were broken. Terry however was practically untouched." Kor added.

"Alright. Here's the situation, and the plan. After myself and Kor data-mined Tails Doll, we found information that was similar to what Kor found during his recon mission 2 days prior. Eggman has been gathering the Dark Gaia energy into one spot, a large base called Eggmanland. He plans to recharge the Death Egg with this power, and if that happens, it'll become unstoppable. G.U.N. has also informed me that all of the Gaia Temples have, you won't believe this, risen up and combined into something. They weren't very clear about what it was, but whatever it is, both the temples _and_ the Death Egg are headed to Eggmanland. So, we have _3_ goals here. One, is to stop the Death Egg from reaching its new fuel source. Two, is we destroy Eggman's only way of controlling this energy. And lastly, we need to secure the temples. They're the only means of restoring the world, and it seems the chaos emeralds were placed in each one." Sally explained.

"I take it G.U.N. ain't gonna back us up on this?" Bunnie asked.

"They don't have any flying carriers nearby. The closest one got tangled up with the Battle Birds..." Sally explained.

Tails groaned. "Ugh...I _hate_ the Armada..."

Kor nodded. "Don't we all..listen guys, normally I'm not one to talk about the subject of death but I'm gonna be honest with ya: we're jumping out of the frying pan and into the furnace, full blast. If we fail _any_ of these goals, _we are screwed_. Eggman will keep the world divided and use the Dark Gaia energy to keep his war machine going, and I'm pretty sure all of us are tired of living on a jigsaw puzzle...you guys have been fighting Eggman your whole lives, and I've never seen a group as heroic as y'all in my entire life. I've fought against his armies for 2 years, and what I've done has only been a pinprick..."

"Out of curiosity, how do you stare death in ze face? I'm sure fighting against Eggman's influence on your own is not easy." Antoine asked.

"...There's a saying I've kept true to my heart whenever I realize this could be the day my life ends: if I'm gonna go down, I'm gonna make it hard for the enemy, and take as many as I can with me...so, if Eggman wants to try to keep the world divided, we're gonna make him fight for it." Everyone nodded and smiled. "Ok then, now, like Sally said, we need to stall the Death Egg first. Rotor, you and Nicole will take the Sky Patrol and throw everything you got at it."

"Gotcha!" The walrus replied.

"Sally, you, Bunnie, Tails, Antoine, and myself will stage a ground assault to release the energy. From what I saw on my scouting run, it's being drawn in by a large spire in the center of the base. We destroy that, and Eggman won't have any means of refueling his fancy station. I've realized with all the energy being stored there have been little to no reports of Dark Gaia monsters around the planet. I don't like the idea of having everyone deal with those pests again, but we'll be damned if we let Eggman control it. Tails, you and Hornet will provide air support. Since Terry is back to operational status, it should make our ground assault easier, but expect heavy resistance." The 4 nodded.

The engineer looked at Sonic. "Sonic, you're going after Chip. I'm pretty sure Eggman might be in the temple as well, so strike hard and fast."

The werehog grinned. "As if I'd have it any other way."

"Alright guys. Let's go make Eggman regret not finishing us off." Kor stated.

The others cheered before getting themselves ready. Before Kor could go get the necessary equipment, he had to speak with Rotor. "Got a minute captain?"

"Sure, what's up?"

"I didn't want to say this at the table, but...if this ship goes down, I want you to make sure Nicole uploads herself in this." The engineer handed the mechanic his PDA.

"Wait, don't you need this on the field?" Rotor questioned.

Kor shook his head. "Nah, I only use it to keep track of the ammunition of my robots. Pretty sure by the end of today they'll need a refit, but...Nicole needs this more than I do."

Rotor chuckled. "I understand. Don't worry, I'll make sure she's safe." He patted the fox on his back.

Once everything was set, Nicole and Rotor pushed the last remaining engine to its maximum performance. Despite only running on one engine, the ship still moved at a frightening pace. This was due to the decision to put the second Red Star Ring in the generator, which enabled the ship to run as if it hadn't been attacked earlier. The Freedom Fighters arrived at Eggmanland just hours before sunset, and not a moment too soon. The Death Egg was closing in on its new fuel supply. The others disembarked to set out on their objectives, while Rotor took manual control of the ship.

"I always wanted an excuse to manually pilot this baby into combat. Careful for what you wish for I guess." He chuckled to himself. "Hey Nicole...you still there? We're flying against the Death Egg on one engine, and it's on its last leg. I'd like to know I'm not alone right now." He asked. It felt rather quiet with everyone else having departed.

He soon got an assured message from the A.I.:

 _Second Red Star Ring in reactor. All weapons online. Shields: 125%. Auxiliary power to engine. Let's get him. :)_

The captain smiled. "Alright, let's do this!"

The Sky Patrol ran at full speed towards the hulking fortress, its ominous eyes casting a look as it locked it up on radar. Above the streets of Eggmanland, Tails was piloting the Tornado with everyone else situated on the wings. The parks automated defense systems picked up the biplane and started firing flak bursts at it, but they failed to detect Hornet, which was flying in the clouds. The gunship fired several missiles, clearing an opening for the Tornado to go in safely.

"Alright guys, this is it! Clear some space so Kor can let Terry out!" Sally ordered.

Everyone jumped off the wings and began firing and swinging at the badniks below. There was something odd about them though: their optics were purple, reflexes increased, and they generally fought as if they had ingested crack.

"Zut Alors! Ze badniks are powered by ze Dark Gaia energy!" Antoine said as he smacked away a motobug that tried to ram him.

"Don't worry about fighting them all, just focus on the tower!" Kor shouted as he tossed Terry's condensed form out. The AFV began to build itself as its master defended it.

Tails strafed targets of opportunity, using his plane's speed to its advantage. Hornet kept taking out air defenses to create a corridor that would allow the two aircraft free maneuverability without drawing the attention of SAMs. This would prove useful as Tails was suddenly jumped by a group of E-2000Rs. Hornet quickly came to his aid, as being within visual range meant its stealth would be useless. On the ground, the heroes were confronted with a familiar foe as a piston-driven spiked hand hit the ground next to Sally.

"Isn't that the same robot from the train?!" Kor asked.

"It is, and it don't look happy!" Bunnie replied.

"Well it ain't gonna last long either." Kor looked as Terry finally finished completion. The AFV turned its turret towards the E-100 unit and spoke in a deep, monotonous voice. "Enemy detected. Engaging."

 **-On the Gaia Colossus-**

Sonic flew up to the huge mass of temples on his own extreme gear. So far, things had been quiet as he surprisingly met no resistance getting to the titan. But the hedgehog knew better. Eggman likely had something waiting for him. He was proven right when he heard the mad doctor's voice on some large speakers.

"Somehow I knew the Battle Bird Armada wouldn't finish you off rodent."

"Heh, no such luck Eggman." True Blue grinned, hopping off his board and breaking into a run. "Good luck trying to swat me with your huge temple-bot!"

"I have toyed with the idea, but the Gaia Colossus is too cumbersome for my tastes. But, I still can't let you reach the head, so I had Orbot send over something more suited to deal with you..." Sonic was forced to stop when a barrage of lasers cut across his path.

Looking above, he wasn't surprised to see Eggman in yet another mechanical battle robot of his. Bristling with weapons, the Egg Dragoon looked rather imposing, but like all the past battles Sonic had with Eggman, there had to a chink in its armor somewhere.

"You've been a pain my side for _far_ too long Sonic, now get a load of this!" The right arm opened up as Eggman pulled a trigger, sending machine gun fire at the Hero of Mobius.

Sonic effortlessly dodged the bullets and used the terrain to his advantage. Eggman followed him with the jet boosters on his machine. "Give up rodent! I'm _this_ close to winning once and for all, and I won't let you stand in the way! I control the Dark Gaia energy, the Gaia Colossus, and the fate of the world will be entirely up to _me_! My armies will keep each chuck of land weak and in my grasp, and if there's hope for me actually being merciful, everyone will have to give me _everything I want_!"

"Yeah, sure. Heard that before!" Sonic taunted. "Since he specifically doesn't want me near the head, that's gotta be where Chip is." He muttered.

The hedgehog tried to make a break for the temple's main unit, but Eggman kept blocking his path. "Oh no! You can't run away from this fight rodent! Your stupid friends aren't here to pick up your slack! G.U.N. isn't coming to the rescue, and you've run out of road!" The doctor fired a super-charged laser that destroyed part of the wall Sonic had been using. The hedgehog jumped away from the blast and landed on the glass dome of the machine's cockpit.

"My friends don't _need_ to be here Eggy. I'm counting on them to handle the rest of the plan, which leaves me to handle you." Sonic retorted with his trademark grin.

" _Handle_ _me_?!" He put the thrusters at full power. "I'll pick what's left of you off the pavement!"

"Heh, someone's cranky."

 **-Back on the ground-**

The others cleared room as Terry took the task of handling Eta, especially since more badniks were showing up. It first used its autocannons to bring the bot to a crawl, but this had little effect of actually damaging it. Eta shot its fists forward, but Terry angled its hull to make its armor seem thicker, causing the spiked hands to bounce off.

"Autocannon damage: negligible. Switching weapons." The AFV stated. Its cannons parted as the large 115mm mortar popped out. Eta looked rather surprised but continued to attack. However, once Terry started to fire, the E-100 unit stood no chance. The first rocket destroyed its hand, followed by a second shot that blew off the other arm with 3 more finishing it off. Despite the E-100s essentially being super soldiers, with a few exceptions, most of them were made to deal with infantry, not something as heavily armed as a tank.

Kor grinned. "Eta's dead Sal."

"Good. We can't waste any more time." Sally stated.

Three of the heroes hopped onto Terry's chassis as it started driving towards the spire that was massing the Dark Gaia energy. Bunnie flew above and picked off badniks of opportunity as the group made a mad dash to the center of the base. It was much faster than having to walk on foot, even more so since Terry shot much of the badniks to bits, even running some over.

"Tails! Eta is-" She paused as an explosion nearly blinded her. "Eta is down and we're moving quickly to the tower. How's everything on your end?"

"Kinda busy right now!" Tails yelled into the radio as he kept avoiding laser fire from the E-2000s to his six. The kit dove the plane into a cloud bank, hoping to lose his pursuers. Thankfully, this tactic worked as the humanoid robots had paused, trying to find their prey. They were completely surprised when Tails came up behind them.

"Multiple locks. Fire!" The kit shouted, sending a barrage of bullets and missiles at his foes. The bots were nothing but piles of scrap afterwards. "Ok I'm good, but you guys still have more E-100s coming, and the badnik horde is closing in!"

"Don't worry. Terry took down Eta in mere seconds, and these robots are marching to their graves!" Kor boasted. "By the way, how's Hornet lookin'?"

Tails looked off to his left and saw the gunship doing a strafing pass on some assault guns. "Busy, but still flying."

Tails watched to both his amazement and shock when the gunship took 3 flak bursts to its body. Smoke was visibly trailing from its left side and one of its large optics stopped functioning. The large bot turned towards the offending guns and blew them to pieces. With its left wings damaged, it couldn't fly as quick as it normally would.

"Ok it just took some damage, but I think it's still ok."

"Right...we're getting close to the spire, but I see a ton of robots. Terry! Cook 'em up for us!" Kor ordered.

The AFV complied and shot its 4 loaded missiles at the incoming horde. Robot parts and smoke covered the area, and the heroes noted the badniks that were usually powered by Mobini lacked their usual source. They assumed Eggman believed the Dark Gaia energy was all he needed. Terry's missile silos sunk down into the hull sides temporarily to be rearmed. Once they reached the spire, Sally took her MilesElectric and started hacking into the systems. Everyone else set up a defensive perimeter as more and more enemies were closing in. The heroes were also aided by Tails and Hornet once they showed up.

 **-In the skies above-**

The Sky Patrol had fired off every weapon it had at the Death Egg, but as expected it had little effect of actually damaging the ship. The massive egg-shaped fortress fired another energy wave, the Sky Patrol barely dodging it.

"I'm surprised we're still in one piece! Can't believe I'm saying this, but thank you Eggman tech!" Rotor cheered. "How're we doing Nicole?"

 _Not good. Weapon power at 10%, particle beam cannon, sonic power cannon, and volkan cannon offline. Anti-air missiles depleted, omochao gun jammed. The shields are holding, but not for long. Engine output at 23%, and I'm fine by the way. :(_

The walrus chuckled. "Good to know. We'll hold out as long as we can." The captain was sweating now. Pretty soon they'd have no way of attacking the Death Egg that didn't involve outright ramming it. Either the engine would give out or the Death Egg would shoot them down first. It was a lose-lose situation.

"Ha! They barely scratched our shields!" Cubot boasted.

"Yes, but the constant barrage and all of our weapons fire is draining our resources. The doctor won't be pleased if we don't have the power to make it to Eggmanland..." Orbot stated with worry.

"Cripes! What are we gonna do?!"

"Hmm...it looks like they're in a holding pattern due to their engine damage. I'll plot out where the next pass will be and focus all our fire there..." The spherical robot did the calculations and got a bead on the next intercept point. "Hope this works..." He covered his eyes as he pressed the trigger.

Another wave of energy shot out from the Death Egg in all directions. This one finally managed to connect with the Sky Patrol, sheering off the entire left wing. The ship glided for a few moments before making a rough water landing. Rotor was thrown about in the command bridge before the ship finally came to a stop.

"Heh heh, well, any landing you can walk away from is a victory in my eyes..." He spotted Kor's PDA lying on a broken screen next to him. Surprisingly, it took little damage. "Huh, this thing is more sturdy than I thought." Studying it, he found a small extendable cord at the bottom. "Alright Nicole, let's get you out of there."

 **-Back in Eggmanland-**

"Sal, you almost done with that thing?!" Kor yelled, firing a burst of unguided rockets.

"Not yet! The system keeps bugging out!" The princess stated, slapping the side of the device.

"Well if you can't hack it, we'll just try to destroy the spire itself!"

"Alright. If I can't hack it, bring it down with whatever you have!" Sally ordered.

Kor saluted before a sudden headache was coming on. "Ugh! Damn, not this again!..." Opening an eye, he saw the sun was setting. "This better be the last night I change into this..."

 **-With Sonic-**

The hedgehog righted himself while he as falling after having taken a blow from the Egg Dragoon. "Heh, that actually hurt..." He broke into another run. "Eggman keeps cutting me off...if only I could hit that mech hard enough..." The hedgehog noticed the sun was setting. "Hmm, maybe waiting isn't such a bad thing." Right at that moment, a blast from a freeze ray connected, encasing Sonic in a block of ice.

"HAH HAH HAH! Gotcha!" Eggman landed the mech just feet from him. "It's been a delightful battle Sonic, but now, _I win_! I take over the world, and you _die_!" He send a fist forward, smashing both the block and the ground surrounding it. The doctor eagerly waited for the dust to clear to see his results, but to his dismay and shock, Sonic was still alive, and in his werehog form.

"Heh, you wish!" He grabbed the arm and, with a strength Eggman clearly wasn't aware of, he tossed the mech with ease.

Eggman was once again faced the prospect of actually losing this battle, so he began to back away. But Sonic wouldn't have it. The doctor fired his large homing drill at the werehog, but Sonic grabbed onto the bot and dodged at the last second, making the drill tear into its owner's machine. Then, Sonic jumped onto the mech and began dislodging Eggman's control capsule, despite the latter's pleas to stop. Once his Egg Mobile was free, Sonic tossed him far away from the temple.

"And once more, Sonic-1, Eggman-0."

With Eggman finally out of the way, the werehog climbed up the head of the colossus, where Chip was sitting inside a capsule. "Sonic! I was so worried!" The Light Gaia said in excitement.

"Haven't I told you before? The good guys always win." He popped the top off, freeing the Light Gaia.

"They sure do!"

"And since we have all the emeralds, I can help-" The werehog stopped when he felt a sudden pain in his chest. Sonic felt as if he was having a heart attack, and as if his strength was being drained.

"Sonic?! What's wrong?!" The Light Gaia asked. The purple mist that was Dark Gaia's essence was being drained from the hedgehog, turning him back into his normal self. Chip then understood what this meant. "Don't worry Sonic, it's just Dark Gaia's energy leaving you!"

Sonic took some ragged deep breaths. " Great...why now?..."

"It's calling it's last bits home...Dark Gaia has finally awakened..." Chip stated.

 **-Back on the ground-**

Sally couldn't seem to hack the spire as the system was constantly malfunctioning, so Hornet and Terry were using the last of their ammunition in an attempt to destroy it. Some of the impact holes had Dark Gaia energy leaking out into the sky, where a sudden storm was starting to brew. However, the same thing that happened to Sonic, was also happening to Kor. The werefox had turned, but it didn't stop him from picking up his launcher and continuing to fire. He was now more annoyed when his entire body felt like it was ablaze, Dark Gaia energy leaking out from the bite wounds he received weeks ago.

"Are you ok mon amie?" Antoine asked.

"Yeah...changing, _then_ changing back within two minutes drains you..." Kor replied, holding a hand to his head.

Antoine then noticed the Dark Gaia energy was also leaving the badniks. "Look! Ze energy is also leaving ze robots!" The coyote then yelled in fear as the ground began to shake.

"W-What's happenin'?!" Bunnie asked.

Tails was flying above the city, dodging purple lightning as the storm grew more instense. "The whole city is falling apart! I'm coming to pick you guys up!"

With the badniks dead, and the spire going to collapse as well, the heroes got into position while Kor called for Terry to deconstruct. Tails managed to get them all before the ground gave way. Hornet followed close behind, flying as fast as its two remaining wings could carry it.

Eggman was also aware of what was happening as he continued to fly back to the Death Egg. "Blast it Sonic! I had everything set up perfectly! Now you've doomed us all!"

The doctor watched in horror as his beloved amusement park fractured and fell to pieces. The Dark Gaia energy continued to rise into the clouds before something began to manifest from it. What appeared was something that one may have seen in a horror movie. While the Light Gaia was a small, caring spirit, Dark Gaia was its opposite. The beast was towering in size, nightmarish, and had a vendetta against all life on the planet.

"That's Dark Gaia?!" Sonic asked in shock.

"Yes. Normally, the two of us sleep in the core of the world for thousands of years, recovering from past duels. When the world shattered, we had awoken prematurely. I had no memory of who I was, but Dark Gaia was _ripped to pieces_. When Dr. Eggman built that spire to draw all of its energy into one place, he essentially helped Dark Gaia rebuild itself. Now, it's strong enough to consume the last remnants of its power, and once it reaches its perfect form...all life will be destroyed..." Chip explained. "We...we can't stop this...I've failed." The Light Gaia said in defeat.

"Hey hold on now. What kind of talk is that? We're still standing aren't we? This isn't over yet." Sonic pointed out.

"But-But..."

"Relax Chip. Just think of all the people we met. All the places we've been. Do you really want to give up on all of them?" The Blue Blur asked with a comforting smile.

Chip took a moment to reflect all on the people he met on his adventures with Sonic. Everyone was putting their life on the line to help restore the world to its proper balance, and what was he doing? Sitting and moping about how hopeless the situation was. Sonic was right. It's not over until you are no longer capable of doing anything. And that meant Chip still had a chance at saving everyone, and everything. "You're right Sonic! I can't give up now."

"That's the Chip I know. So...what do you use to battle tall, dark, and ugly out there?"

"I use the Gaia Colossus to beat it into submission, then seal us both away so the world can heal...but that would take _centuries_! That isn't fast enough to save everyone."

"You need _fast_ eh? Look who you're talking to." Sonic grinned. With all 7 chaos emeralds in the chamber of the head, he easily tapped into their power to achieve a form most people are familiar with: Super Sonic. Chip was ecstatic at this.

"I bet we'll have this done in 5 minutes! Let's do this Chip!"

"Right behind you!" Chip replied, taking control of the Gaia Colossus.

 **-With the other Freedom Fighters-**

Sally, Tails, Kor, Bunnie, Antoine, and Hornet all watched in amazement as the Gaia Colossus and a yellow spark duel against the massive Perfect Dark Gaia where Eggmanland originally was.

"Ok, we should be safely out of range." Tails told them.

"I think those are relative terms at this point..." Sally replied.

"I still think we should be out 30 miles..." Kor noted.

Antoine and Bunnie noticed the Death Egg hovering in the distance, keeping a weary eye on it. "Ze Death Egg has not moved for a while."

"Guess it's finally outta gas. The doc was desperate to get that energy." Bunnie surmised. "But, where's the Sky Patrol?"

"If I had to guess, it may have crashed...it was flying on its last legs after all..." The engineer explained.

Sally then noticed a red dome with a star sitting in the rough waters below. "There!"

Tails steered the plane towards the downed ship. With the hanger doors underwater, he had to land on the roof. Hornet landed shortly after, glad to finally have something remotely stable to sit on. Tails popped out magnetic hooks to keep the plane from rolling off as the ship was rocked slightly in the fierce storm brewing from the cataclysmic battle just miles away. Sally jumped off and noticed Rotor watching the fight while sitting in a lawn chair, sipping some soda.

"You ok Rotor?" The princess asked.

"Yeah. The Death Egg blew us out of the sky. The ship is down for the count, and as for Nicole..." He grabbed the PDA that was sitting on the floor next to the chair.

"Hello everyone. Sorry about worrying you all earlier..." Nicole's voice spoke using the communicator in the device.

Everyone was glad to see Nicole was alright, then took note that she was inside Kor's PDA. Sally turned to him. "You had Rotor put Nicole in your PDA?"

"Yeah. She needed it more than me...I thought if the ship would go down given how much damage she took when we got attacked and..."

Sally understood and hugged him. "Thanks Kor."

He smiled and returned the hug. "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go grab my stuff from the armory and the hangar."

Rotor took another sip and turned his head slightly. "You know the hanger is likely flooded right?"

"Yeah, but my dispensers are waterproof thank God..." The older fox sauntered over to a nearby hatch.

"Wait, hey Kor did you do with Tails Doll by the way?" Sally asked out of curiousity.

"Well..."

 **-Hours Before-**

 _Midnight Rodeo_ from Megas XLR plays.

Kor drops the mangled doll on the roof before he starts to smash it with his wrench. The little machine is barely functioning after several repeated hits, but Kor wasn't finished yet. He takes his AA-12 and shoots the entire drum at the doll, blowing it to pieces. And for added measure, he then takes out a flamethrower and burns the pieces to ash.

"BWAH HAH HAH HAH HAH! HAH HAH HAH! YEEEEEEE HAH HAH!"

Just to be sure, he gives the ashes another dose of flame.

 **-Present-**

"...Was all that necessary?" Tails asked.

"It's Tails Doll. Can't be too sure." Kor replied before walking into the ship.

"Well guys, grab a soda and watch Sonic save the world." The walrus suggested.

"But...we can still help, can't we?" Tails asked.

"Tails, this is a battle between _Gods_. The Tornado doesn't have that kind of firepower, neither do any of Kor's robots. And judging from the way Hornet looks, I think it'd rather rest than get in the middle of all that. Let Sonic and Chip do their thing without any of us getting in the way." Rotor explained.

Everyone knew he was right, there was nothing more they could do but spectate. Usually it was situations like this where Sonic was the only one of the group who could handle it. Starting with Perfect Chaos, and the near collision with the Space Colony Ark, this was no different. So, the heroes did what they do best, cheer for their favorite hero to stick it to the villain

Kor came back up a few minutes later, his backpack filled to the brim, and he showed some difficulty carrying it. He breathed a sigh of relief when he finally made it back up to the roof. His eyes widened when a large powerful blast was accidentally directed at the Sky Patrol from Dark Gaia , but the Gaia Colossus put a shield to block it, which split it in two.

"See? I told you we should've been farther out." The fox turned to look at the parted energy, but this caused the pack's weight to make him slip and fall to the flat part of the roof, upside down. He couldn't move due to the awkward position.

Everyone else couldn't help but laugh. The engineer didn't find it too amusing though. "Uh, little help?..."

 **A/N: Welp, the world is finally set to be fixed. But, the adventures don't stop there. The whole shattered world thing was just a springboard for this story. Now, I get to write more of my own creativity. Glad I could finally get those chapters done so I could move on to more stuff I had lined up.** **Now, Megas XLR fans will pick up the little incident Kor did with Tails Doll if you can remember. Hope you guys are enjoying it so far, cause I'm not finished with it.**


	17. Aftermath

**A/N: The world is saved, thanks to the Powerpuff-!**

 **Heavy: NO!**

 **Jokes aside, the world can finally return to normal, or whatever settles as 'normal'. With the world back in one piece, the heroes can finally get some R &R before their next big adventure. And Sonic can hopefully plan a good party this time. That's right hedgehog! You called victory ****_way_** **too early, and look what happened! Anyway, let's see how everyone is doing after the Shattered World Crisis.**

 **Disclaimer: All characters belong to Sega and Archie except my OC.**

As Sonic predicted, it didn't take long for him and Chip to defeat Dark Gaia. Super Sonic was able to put the brakes on the beast and defeat it by blasting directly through its brain. With the fate of the world no longer at stake, Chip teleported Sonic back to the Sky Patrol so the Light Gaia could restore the planet. The hedgehog, and everyone else, wished he could have celebrated with them, but as Chip said, it was just business as usual for him. Plus, he expended all of his energy during the fight and needed to rest. He said he always be with the heroes in spirit, especially since Sonic obtained a bracelet that supposedly held a wave-link to the Light Gaia. Around the world, everyone rejoiced as pieces of the planet finally fell back into place. No more earthquakes, no more random floating land masses unless it's Angel Island, and best of all, no more having to deal with Dark Gaia.

But, like all adventures, there were sacrifices on both sides. With the Eggman Empire, the good doctor lost billions in tons of resources he had spent building Eggmanland. He told himself those could all be replaced, but he really liked that theme park. Also, most of his E-100 units were destroyed in the carnage along with the whole badnik horde stationed there. It didn't help those units were supplanted by his other Egg Army bases, so now the doctor _and_ his Egg Bosses were a bit short on robots. If G.U.N. decided to launch an offensive, they'd have much difficulty resisting it.

However, Eggman was still intrigued about the kind of energy the world had to offer. It still wouldn't be able to match the prowess of the chaos emeralds, but it was on par with Dark Gaia's energy. In the end, the good doctor decided he would dwell about it some other time. Getting out of range for a possible counterattack was more important, and having to refuel the Death Egg (again).

With the heroes, their losses weren't as big, but still significant. The Sky Patrol was down and likely wouldn't fly at all anymore. With the loss of the ship, this meant the Freedom Fighters no longer had a way to directly challenge the Death Egg, much less the Battle Bird Armada. They were also stuck there unfortunately; the dome top was too short for the Tornado to take off, and Hornet was in no shape to fly. Thankfully, the heroes got in contact with another G.U.N. carrier and they were able to winch the ship aboard once they arrived (though they had to drain all the water first). Also, though he didn't tell anymore, Kor found Nicole's handheld while he was scrounging up his stuff. Being submerged in water along with the damage it took meant the computer itself was likely useless and beyond repair. But, the engineer hoped to find some way to fix it. He also had a backup plan if 'A' didn't work. G.U.N. had no issues giving them a free trip. After all, they did just save the world.

The inside of the carrier was like a small city. It had shops, shipping quarters, a deck for aircraft maintenance, it had it all. Sally and Bunnie opted to take a look around while Sonic, for once, decided to kick back and take it easy. Nicole tagged along with the two females. Even though she couldn't utilize her physical form, the PDA did have a camera she could see through. Rotor and Tails went to take a look at the Sky Patrol, at least to see if was salvagable. So, this left Antoine and Kor by themselves. The fox was already looking to attempt repairs on Hornet, and Antoine didn't want to feel bored.

"Zat was ze toughest fight we have ever faced..." Antoine stated as he leaned on Terry, hands behind his head. The AFV was also out as it needed a slight touch up.

"Yer tellin' me. And you guys had to put up with this for how many years?" He had his head inside the robot's left large optic, replacing some wiring to get it working again.

"Since we were children...all of us, sans Rotor, had been run out of our homes when ze doctor came and performed his sudden coup' de tat. Admittingly, I was...how you say, 'a huge chicken' back in those days. But, fighting Eggman all ze years has built up my courage, and strength, to become the greatest swordsman ever known!" The coyote proclaimed loudly.

"I heard you got nervous when you asked Bunnie to marry you." The engineer smirked.

Antoine's face turned red from embarrassment. "Zat...zat is entirely different!"

"Just yankin' yer chain son." Kor chuckled. "With as many armies and robots the doctor has, most people who stood up to him would be dead by now. But then again, we're not like most people."

"Oui."

"I got some spare parts for Hornet in one of mah dispensers. All I need is some piece and quiet, and I can get to work."

"Curiously, how do these 'dispensers' work?" The swordsman questioned.

"Well, they can copy the make and structure of whatever I program into it. Materials, ammunition, sometimes medicine, it can do that much as long as I program it, and if it's capable of doing it. How it does all of this, is sensitive information, so I won't spill. Same with the formula for ubercharging myself." The engineer explained. Some electricity sparked as Hornet's optic became active again, prompting him to snap it back in place.

"I understand." The coyote looked around for a minute as Kor kept taking note of what he else needed to fix on Hornet. "How does it feel, ze 'uber charge' process I mean?"

"Well...I guess it feels the same as when Sonic is in his super form. Course I can't fly, but being able to ignore just about a ton of things thrown at me? Makes ya feel like a God or something. I always get tingled when I kritz myself though."

"Kritz?"

"Yeah. I used it back when we dealt with 3 E-100s in the desert. Took down Lambda when it tried to run from me. It's different from a standard charge though; instead of being invulnerable I get a big damage boost with any weapon I happen to hold. Said weapon glows too."

"Hmm...I am thinking of trying zis technique of yours."

The fox chuckled. "Slow down there soldier. You can only become ubercharged if you have a heart implant like myself. Because getting charged uses lots of electricity, it'd be too much for your heart to handle, and it would explode." He pulled out a jagged piece of metal from Hornet's side. "How'd this happen?..." Shaking his head, he tossed it before opening a side panel.

Antoine subconsciously gripped his chest in fear. "H-How do you-no wait, never ze mind. I don't want to know..." He saw Rotor returning. "Any luck with ze ship?"

"No...she's completely trashed...the good ol' Sky Patrol is gonna be..." The walrus wiped a tear. "Put out to pasture..."

"Don't worry Rot. It served us well to the very end right?" Kor pointed out.

"True..."

"Plus, doesn't this mean you get the chance to build a bigger and better ship?" The elder fox smirked.

"That is a plus...hmm..." Rotor rubbed his chin before thoughts started to come to him. "That's it! Sky Patrol 2.0 will be better than new! I'm also gonna install an arcade, a sauna, a bigger swimming pool-"

"Ok ok take it easy." Antoine groaned whilst Kor chuckled.

"Actually..." Kor paused, "I think all of us could use some upgrade in terms of weaponry."

"How so?" Antoine asked.

"Well, no offense to you or Tails Ant, but I don't think the Tornado and Twister are too capable at handling future operations. It's been on my mind for awhile but I didn't want to say anything."

The swordsman narrowed his eyes. "Are you insulting my piloting skills?!"

Kor deadpanned. "No, dummy. I'm saying you two could use faster planes. We're living the _jet_ age and you two are still flying _biplanes_. No matter how fast they are, biplanes won't be enough to outrun an enemy. Hell, they couldn't even keep up with that train when it suddenly took off. Have you two even thought about getting jets?"

"...Zat has not been my mind to be honest. I'm not sure about Tails though."

"Technically, the Tornado can transform into a jet, but even then it can barely keep up with Sonic." Rotor stated.

"Well you guys should look into that." Kor told them as he hopped onto Terry and opened a hatch.

"As soon as I saw Sonic, I figured you guys would be on board, with one extra I assume." A deep, somewhat uncaring voice stated.

The group turned and saw none other than Shadow and Omega. Aside from their sudden appearance, what surprised them the most was who the super badnik was carrying.

"What's Naugus doing here?!" Rotor shouted.

"He had been sticking his horn where he shouldn't have, so we're taking him into custody." Shadow stated. He focused his gaze onto Kor. "Interesting to see you again Royce, and with your toys no less." The ebony hedgehog smirked.

"Come on Shadow, you know I hate people calling them that..." Kor groaned before going back to what he was doing.

"You both know each other?" Antoine asked.

"Well, not personally." The fox was doing a general systems check. "Occasionally, Rouge would pass me information from G.U.N. if they needed me to do something. Naturally Shadow and Omega had info on me as well. Shads of course didn't think much about me, though Omega took great interest in Terry."

"Such a large machine does possess formidable weaponry, though it is still less than that of my own." The last of the E-100 units stated its usual monotone voice.

The engineer chuckled. "I guess. Speaking of which, where is that jewel lover?"

"Off admiring her prize. Ironically it's a large gem that's roughly the size of the Master Emerald..." The ultimate lifeform shook his head in disgust.

"What is this new unit in your disposal?" Omega asked.

"Oh, right, you guys never met Hornet." Kor poked his head out. "Hornet's a gunship I built a year ago over a span of 8 months. You and it have a common history Omega."

"Explain."

"Hornet's original blueprints were actually created by Eggman when he was first building your series. It was designated E-117, but the good doctor never got a chance to build it once I 'liberated' it from him." The fox chuckled.

"I thought it looked similar to one of Eggman's robots."

"Clever. What weapons does it possess?"

"Rockets, missiles, and a 30mm cannon that can-"

"As much as I'd _love_ to listen to you both compare weapons," Shadow stated sarcastically, "Let's deliver this troll to HQ. I'm getting sick of presence." With that, the two members of Team Dark sauntered off.

"Well, that was something." Rotor added.

"You did not mention that you knew of Team Dark in your backstory..." Antoine said in suspicion.

"Well, I told you guys what you wanted to know." Kor said in defense. "Plus, you never asked how I got my info. But yes, I do have a past with them. It's funny though, Shads thought of me being something like Rouge except with a thing for money just because I was a gun for hire. Doesn't help asshats like the Hooligans are running around...but once he witnessed my capacity for carnage I guess I gained _some_ respect. Omega was already impressed by the fact I built Terry."

"I see." The walrus took a seat. "So, you got any plans when we get home?"

"Home?" Kor asked.

"Yeah. I'm sure you _'_ d be welcome to stay at Mobotropolis, plus I think Sally had her dad drop your charges weeks ago."

"Zat, and you can spend time with your _girlfriend_." The swordsman pointed out.

The engineer blushed at the idea. "As much as I'd like, no...love to spend time with Nikki, that's rather hard considering her PDA is, well..."

"Oh...right..." Rotor replied.

"But, to be honest, I never had a _permanent_ home ever since I came to this universe. Always traveling from place to place, even the abandoned outpost I used before the world shattered was just a temporary place to settle. If I'm going to live somewhere, I want it to be secure, a place even the likes of Eggman would wet his pants if he tried attacking. Oh who am I kidding? He'd attack regardless...Mobotropolis is a pretty place, but living in a kingdom isn't for me though. Feels odd..."

"But, where exactly will you go?" Antoine asked.

"Dunno...but I'll figure something out. Til then, I'm more than willing to stay with y'all, especially since I needed to do some major fixes..." The fox looked at Hornet.

 **-Three Days Later-**

The Freedom Fighters had started returning to their normal every day lives, especially since Eggman didn't seem like he'd make a move any time soon. Rotor and Tails worked a few hours during the day removing salvageable parts from the Sky Patrol, Sonic returned to his daily runs, though today he was having tea with King Acorn along with Sally, Amy, and Cream. Big was fishing as usual, and Antoine and Bunnie spent their time doing who knows what.

Kor spent the last 2 days fixing up Hornet in the privacy of the hangar he was given at the Royal Airfield. He still made time to visit Nicole, who was now in the city's network. Even though it's only been 72 hours, he missed talking to her in her physical form. Seeing her on screen was nice, but it paled in comparison to actually holding her in his arms. The lynx didn't show it, but he could tell she missed being able to interact like a real living mobian. To be denied this experience depressed her to a degree. She hadn't told anyone about it, but the engineer would ensure she'd be able to enjoy that experience again.

On Isolated Island, a lone, inactive red colored device sat covered in a pile of leaves. A motobug was wheeling about without a care in the world, passing by the device that was hidden just a few steps away. Suddenly, the device began to hum as it warmed itself to life, the two identical ends of it beginning to rotate around the center, blowing away some of the leaves surrounding it. The badnik stopped when it heard the noise and turned, looking at the strange machine. Then, it gave a bright flash, causing the robot to speed away in fear.

Kor shook his head as he came out of the teleporter, some residue falling off of him. "Been a while since I used this thing. Good thing it still works over long distance." He packs the machine into its toolbox before slinging said box over his shoulder. "Now where was his house again?..."

During the Freedom Fighter's previous visit to Dr. Ellidy's home, Kor had wandered off to plant an exit in the event he decided to pay a visit to the old lynx. It sure as hell beat flying for several hours. Kor never used his teleporters that often as he felt he didn't need to, and he didn't want someone accidentally finding it. He did have one that led back to his home dimension still sitting built in a decrypt base however.

Dr. Ellidy had kept at his research of power rings since the Freedom Fighters left. While he originally thought the lake had dried out after the removal of its chaos emerald, he was surprised to find it producing rings on a regular basis as it used to. It was things like this that kept him intruiged, as well as some innovative ideas he had for the rings. Being the only organic inhabitant on this island, the old lynx was quite surprised to get a knock at his door.

"Wonder who that could be? I'm not expecting any company..." He shuffled over to the door and opened it.

"Hey doc. How ya been keepin'?" A red fox asked.

"Ah Kor! Pleasant surprise to see you here! I didn't hear your large flying friend when you arrived, nor did any of my robots notify me."

"Well, let's just say I had a different method of travel."

"I see. Well, since you're here I have a few questions to ask. Would you mind having something to drink?"

"Water would be nice."

Ellidy walked into his kitchen as Kor set his stuff down. The lynx came back with two glasses full. "So what do I owe this visit?"

Kor took one of the cups. "Well, I got something I need to ask of you, but first, you said you had a few questions for me?"

"Oh, right. So how did the whole fixing the planet go? Just a week ago it seemed the monsters had finally stopped floundering around my abode."

Kor chuckled. "I don't think saying _going through hell_ is too strong to put it."

"It was _that_ bad?"

"Well, getting the rest of the keys and emeralds was actually easy. The hard part is what we had to do in order to fix everything."

The fox spent the next few minutes explaining the ambush Eggman set up and the race to save the planet before the tyrant had total control of everything. The lynx nearly choked on his water when Kor mentioned Phage and what happened with Nicole. To that end, he took out the banged up handheld. "So...I was wondering if you could do somethin' to fix it. Might be pointless now just lookin' at but..."

"Hmm..." Ellidy carefully took the PDA and examined it. He even opened it up to get a look at the insides, only to cringe upon seeing the water damage and the mess the circuitry was in. "I'll be brutally honest with you son...there's no way I can repair this. I know Nicole's PDA was one of a kind, but the damage on this scale is beyond even my capabilities...she's lucky her A.I. is still intact..."

"I was afraid you'd say that...but, is it possible to use another PDA and upgrade it to the scale of hers?"

The lynx tapped his chin in thought. "It's possible. I did explore the possibility of giving her an updated version, but since she advanced even beyond my understanding due to the fact I haven't been in contact with her until recently, there's no guarantee."

"Well, like all innovators say: wouldn't hurt to try." Kor pulled out his own PDA. "She had been using mine since the Sky Patrol isn't of any use anymore, but it does put limits on her due to how old this thing is. So I figured, you could give it some upgrades." He tossed it to Ellidy.

"Well, it has been years since I've actually worked on computers. If you recall only recently did I show interest by exploring the Digital World, and you know how _that_ turned out."

"You're system has been as tight as Fort Knoxx since then right?"

"Yes, it has...I'll admit studying up on rings has gotten rather slow lately, so I could use something else to test my mettle. Now to refresh my memory, what happened to the Red Star Ring?"

"Basically, Nicole said while it granted her increased performance like before, the amount of constant energy overheated her PDA to the point it practically exploded. There was a burnt mark on the wall in the shape of the ring when we all saw it. Now, what I was thinking were two things since Nicole used on Phage the first time here. The reason that didn't happen was because her system was hooked up to yours, and since you have a giant room for cooling your servers, you can afford to overclock your PCs without risk."

"A sound theory. What's the other?"

"While it's clear her PDA had overheated, I'm also thinking the energy was just too much for it to handle, which might have caused a chokepoint in the energy cycle, thus leading to failure."

Ellidy raised an eyebrow. "What exactly are you basing this information from?"

"When I become ubercharged, I have a small device attached to my heart so the energy isn't too much for me to handle. Without it, my heart would explode if I tried to become ubered. Not sure if Nicole had an adaptor or something to help handle spikes in energy."

"Hmm...I see your point. But, if your second theory happened, she could have very well been lost entirely, not just her handheld. Nonetheless, I'll take both into account when giving this thing upgrades. You won't recognize your own PDA after I'm done with it." The lynx chuckled.

Kor smiled. "Thanks Doc. By the way, you wanna come to the victory party? It's being held in a few days."

"When exactly is it?"

"This Saturday. Sally sent out invites yesterday so it'll take some time for it to reach everyone."

"Ah. By then I should have your new PDA ready, but I don't think I'll be able to attend since, well, I have no way of getting to Westside Island." The doctor smiled sheepishly.

"Don't you worry about that. How do you think I got here?"

"Funny question: you never explained that." Ellidy smirked.

"True, true. So, have you made any new inventions with rings?"

"As a matter of fact, I have. Come and see." The lynx lead the engineer to his lab.

 **A/N: So, Kor plans to get Nicole back up to her usual self. Very sweet of him to do so, though trying to keep it secret might be hard since he never told anyone about his surprise visit. Also, at the mention of Kor wanting to build a base for himself, he's still a TF2 Engineer at heart, so this would come natural. But the important question is, where?**


	18. Life At The Party

**A/N: Apologies for the long wait. Holidays, meeting new family members, and getting set up for another semester have been keeping me busy since December. But, I hope everyone had an enjoyable Christmas and New Year, even though this year may not be as kind as the last.**

 **Anyway, to refresh the memory, Kor had set up plans to help his sweetheart, though keeping it a secret is becoming a challenge. However, all questions will be answered today, as today is the day of the celebratory party!**

 **Disclaimer: All characters belong to Sega and Archie except my OC.**

A bright flash spread throughout a hanger as Kor stepped off his teleporter. He paid another visit to Dr. Ellidy to give him a few key components he needed whilst working on the new PDA. So far, it was coming along nicely, already looking nothing like it originally did when the fox first gave it to him. Kor was rather surprised that the old lynx could work that fast, but he should've known better; after all, Ellidy created a digitizer and a massive network for both himself AND Mobotropolis.

The engineer looked around for a moment. Hornet was asleep with its ground unit companion Terry parked next to it, probably on standby. Aside from the teleporter, another small glow was emitting in the spacious room. The fox sauntered over and realized he left the case of chaos drives open. Unlike typical G.U.N. robots, which only required 1 drive to operate, Kor retrofitted his own bots to use quite a few: 6 for Terry and 4 for Hornet. The larger number increased the bot's reaction times and productivity, plus their large size required a large source of power.

"I wonder how G.U.N. manages to make these. Maybe if I knew then I wouldn't have to keep buying spares from 'em." He stated. Kor started to think about what else he could do for the day when something knocked on the door. Walking over, he was rather surprised to see the princess. "Uh...hey Sal."

"Hey Kor, is anything wrong?"

"No, why?"

"You've been disappearing a lot over the week. No one can seem to find you, and we know you didn't take Hornet or Terry out because neither of them have been let out to roam."

"I don't...I don't see how that's a problem ma'am."

The chipmunk dawned an annoyed look on her face. "You're supposed to help with the party! You know it's tomorrow right?"

"Yeah?"

"So what have you been up to? You even said you'd help set up fireworks today."

The engineer started to sweat a little. He was debating whether he should tell Sal the truth or fabricate something believable. This was the 3rd time this week he'd been asked. While telling Sally his plan for Nicole would seem nice, he didn't want to risk her leaking information. "Well...given how this island had an underground cave no one seemed to remember, I decided to take a couple walks around to get a feel on things, and maybe...plan some attack on Metropolis in the future." He stated sheepishly.

Sally held her questioning glare for a moment before it softened, having seemed to taken the bait. "If you wanted a tour of our home, you could've asked any of us. Not like we would've turned you down. Also try not to think about Metropolis. I know it's Eggman's only stronghold on the island, but they aren't much of an issue right now. So come on, Tails needs help setting up the pyrotechnics."

"I guess..." Kor muttered before stepping out of the hanger, closing the door after him. "So whose coming to this party, besides those already living around here?"

"The Chaotix, Mighty, Ray, Team Dark, Honey, Dulcy's group, a few of the key guardians, the Desert Raiders-"

"Wait wait wait," Kor interrupted, "Why did you guys invite those traitors? Especially after I found out they led us into those ambushes back then."

"Well, despite what they did I thought it'd be good to try to make amends with them. We don't have to worry about them leaking any info since it's just a party."

"No, but I don't want them to be sneaking off and getting into trouble either..."

"Yeah...but we'll cross that bridge soon." The princess replied in assurance.

"Fine. But that don't mean I won't keep an eye on them."

"Noted."

A moment of silence followed as they continued to walk around the city. "...Do you think Nikki might be able to make it?"

Sally sighed. "I don't know...without her handheld she can't experience the real world like we do...she can hang out inside one of Tails' MilesElectric devices, but..."

The two made it to the site of the party, which was in a large clearing in the middle of the city. Sonic was on the roofs of buildings, running around setting up decorations, Bunnie, Cream and Vanilla were handling table and chair set up, Rotor and Gemerl were setting up a sound system, and while Kor didn't see Antoine, he assumed he may be cooking the food.

"Well, bring her with you. I'll have something ready that she'll like."

"And what would that be?" Sally asked.

"Classified." The engineer smirked. The princess shrugged. "Anyway, Tails is up on the hill outside the city."

The fox nodded before jogging off. In the meantime, Sally went to help Sonic with setting up more of the décor.

 **-Isolated Island-**

A loud screeching noise resounded throughout the island, especially around the only house that inhabited it. Dr. Ellidy stayed hard at work over the past few days in order to reach the deadline both he and Kor had agreed upon. And as a matter of fact, he was actually ahead of schedule. Removing his face protection, he studied his handy work. By now, the PDA was an entirely new computer. Its size doubled to that of a tablet, had a new screen, a new processor, motherboard, and new safety features such as a built-in cooling unit. It's power source, was two chaos drives Kor brought in earlier. Now, given the size of a chaos drive, it would seem too big to fit in a small computer. But, Ellidy was able to circumvent this by installing each drive on the sides of the frame. Kor hoped this would allow Nicole to access her physical form without having to use a ring. There was however, a port on one of the sides in the event Nicole may need to use a stronger source of power.

Right now, the old lynx had finished refurbishing the tablet's casing. "There we go. That should prevent any accidental incidents. Now, to see if the fruits of my labor have paid off."

The lynx pressed a button on the side and to his delight, the device powered on. On the screen, it showed the OS connecting up to the Mobotropolis database, downloading information and then some. Satisfied with his work, Ellidy set the tablet on a desk, knowing it would take a few hours before it was fully ready. He still had rougly 18 hours before the party were to happen, and the lynx was content to spent 8 of it sleeping.

 **-Back on Westside Island-**

Tails and Kor roamed around the perimeter of the city setting up several firework launchers. Frequently, the two would joke around making snarky comments about Eggman or talking about something technical. Kor would occasionally tease Tails about whether or not he would dance with Cream during the party, which usually resulted in the kit's face turning almost as red as the engineer's fur. In response, Tails questioned if Kor would marry Nicole one day, making the older fox freeze and stutter. If one never saw them before, they might assume the two to be brothers. Unspoken, but Kor did sometimes see Tails as being this, but he wasn't sure if the kit felt the same. He might ask Sonic about it later.

After finishing the last launcher, the foxes noticed it was around 4 in the afternoon, so they started heading back in. "Kor I have a question."

"If it's about whether or not I'm ask Nikki to be my-"

"No no not that. A serious question. Antoine told me how you believed we could be using jets. Thing is, I don't really see what's wrong with the Tornado. I made numerous upgrades to it after all."

"I think it's more or less a matter of perspective. I know the Tornado and Twister are fast and good planes. I ain't insulting your genius or nothin', I'm just concerned is all. There are planes that can go mach 2 and carry a wide arrange of weapons." The engineer stated.

"Well I did install a mode that would allow the Tornado to turn _into_ a jet, but it does have downsides..." Tails replied, twiddling his fingers.

"Like what?"

"I can't land the plane because it has no wheels in that stage." Kor gave the kit an odd look. "I didn't really think it through, but that's why I change it back before I want to land somewhere. But I do see your point. Thing is...aren't jets very expensive to maintain?"

"Well, yeah. But if you can build the Tornado, you could build a jet. How long have you had that bird?"

"Since I was 5."

"Ain't no pressure son. Just a thought. In fact..." Kor paused to think. "I may get a fighter myself."

"Do you even know how to fly? Plus I'm not sure if designing planes is something you usually do."

"Number 1, I don't, but I got a pilot standing right next to me." Kor replied, making Tails smile. "And 2, you're right, I don't design planes, I do robots. BUT! I'm sure I have enough money to buy one off G.U.N., and they have quite a selection last I checked."

"Guess you're set then." Tails chuckled, before his stomach growled. "Wanna get a chili dog?"

"Uh...I guess." The engineer shrugged. "I really understand why you _or_ Sonic like those things so much."

 **-The Next Day-**

The next morning, the heroes continued to prep for the party, as it was to start in the early afternoon. As usual, Kor was absent, much to Sally's annoyance. The red fox himself as over in Isolated Island. Dr. Ellidy seemed pretty happy when he met him today. The lynx walked into his house and came back out with the now finished tablet, even being colored a metallic purple.

Kor whistled. "I'm still surprised you went from a small PDA to a large tablet...do you think she'll like it?"

"Like it? No...she'll love it." Ellidy smiled warmly.

"Well Doc, thank you for your time. I _really_ owe ya for this."

"Nah, think nothing of it. I'm just happy I could help."

"Still, it wouldn't be right for me to not pay you back after all ya did."

Ellidy chuckled. "I'd like to this of this as payment for you helping save my home."

"Well...alright, if you say so. Ready to head over to Westside?"

"Yes. But how exactly are we getting there?"

Kor smirked. "Let me show ya somethin'."

At the Royal Airfield on Westside Island, Terry was awakening from standby. Rotating its turret, audible creaks and groans resounded throughout the hanger, similar to someone cracking the joints in their neck. This also awoke Hornet, who became visibly annoyed.

 _"Must you do that every time you wake up?"_ Hornet grunted, its eyes casting a small glare.

The AFV turned its guns toward the gunship. "Do you have a turret?" It responded. Despite its ominous tone, it sounded like it didn't care.

 _"No."_

"Then stop whining."

Hornet was about to let loose a string of swears when the teleporter in the room flashed. Looking over, both bots expected to see its master, but were instead puzzled at the appearance of a gray-furred lynx in a black coat. The lynx in question stumbled slightly before getting a grip on himself, only to nearly scream when he saw Terry and Hornet. The two robots didn't know whether to shoot this intruder or let him be, but as far as they knew this mobian wasn't supposed to be in here. Kor came through a few seconds later.

"Told ya it's a quick trip." The engineer boasted.

"Y-Yes, a little unpleasant upon exit though...I'm guessing these two robots are...?"

"Yep, Terry and Hornet." The engineer noticed the doctor was visibly disturbed seeing the two machines up close. "Oh relax, they won't shoot you unless I tell them to."

Terry pointed its 30 mils at the poor doctor. "Not LITERALLY Terry." The AFV rested its guns back in the 12 o'clock position. Kor opened the main hangar door. "Now come on. I know y'all been stuck in here for a week, so get some exercise. Also Hornet, I want you to keep an eye out for anything suspicious."

Terry started up its engine before rolling out. Hornet walked out seconds later, starting up its wings. Ellidy watched the two bots leave, before noticing some red particle residue leaving from him. "Um...is this normal?"

"Don't worry, it'll stop after a few minutes. You remember where everything is right?"

"Somewhat. It has been _years_ since I was last here." Ellidy stated, taking in the sight of the airfield. "Before I retired, those construction worker fellows were just starting to build this place."

"Well, I hope you know more than I do. Last time I was here, I was incarcerated!" The engineer laughed heartily.

"Wait...when was that?" The lynx asked.

"I'll tell ya more about it later. Let's just head into town, sounds like they're starting."

In the city's center, the festivities had indeed started. Most were chatting amicably, eating, and generally enjoying what there was to offer. A green crocodile was up on a stage that had been set up, doing DJ work. Kor looked among the crowd to see if he could point out the princess. He found her along with a certain blue hedgehog munching on a chili dog. With the two were Dulcy, Honey, Amy, Jian, and to Kor's surprise, Julie-Su.

"So the doc _almost_ had me that time. If it wasn't for the fact he kept running his mouth, he might have beaten me for once." Sonic stated as he retold of his last battle with Eggman.

"Hah! Serves him right!" Dulcy chuckled.

"Arrogance usually leads to one's downfall." Jian stated.

"Well hopefully Eggman won't come back any time soon. Still can't believe he sent that Metal Sonic to ruin the fighting tournament." Honey replied with a bitter tone.

"Still, he didn't make off with the emerald, so that's a plus. Wish _I_ made it past the first round though." Julie added.

"But ya didn't, cause I kicked yer ass." Kor piped up once within hearing range.

"You mean I kicked _your_ ass." The pink echidna retorted.

"You both tied, so nobody won." Sally pointed out.

The two looked at the princess before uttering "killjoy" at the same time.

"Anyway, nice to see you got the invite Dr. Ellidy." The princess stated.

"Yes. Normally I'm not one for public affairs, but even I deserve a break from isolation once in a while."

"And did you enjoy sight-seeing again Kor?" Sonic asked, talking with his mouth full.

"Nope." Kor stated before he started to imitate Shadow's voice. "And don't talk with your mouth full hedgehog."

Everyone started to laugh at this, including Sonic, until he started to choke and had to spit his food out.

"So Sal, is she here?" Kor asked.

"Who is?" Honey asked.

"Yeah, she's in here." Sally showed him the MilesElectric she had on her. Nicole then typed a message on the screen.

 _Hi Kor :)_

"Hey Nikki." Kor smiled. "I got a surprise for you." He sang. The A.I. gave an emoticon that had a curious look. The fox turned to Ellidy, who handed him an odd looking device. Once he revealed it, Nicole gave a wide eyed emoticon.

 _What is that?_

"For the past week I've been secretly working with Dr. Ellidy to create this little gem, so yes Sally, me going sight-seeing was a lie. I know how much you missed being able to interact on the same level as everyone else and how limited you felt since you didn't have something that would allow you to see the outside world like we do. But thanks to our good doctor here, you'll be able to have that experience yet again. It's all set and ready to go. Only thing it needs, is someone to pilot it."

The others were at a loss for words, though the girls were giving sweet looks. Amy in particular looked like she was about to cry.

 _:O Wow...I don't...I don't know what to say..._

"Don't say anything, just feel." Kor stated with a smile. He pulled at the extendable USB cord at the bottom of the tablet and motioned for Sally to hand her over. The princess obliged without hesitation. Once jacked in, Nicole left the yellow electronic and moved into the newer device. Surprisingly, it was a lot more spacious than her old PDA. Then again, the device was bigger in general. Taking a quick browse, most of the functions were like her old handheld with some new ones added in, but what surprised her the most, was the considerable power output. It was more than enough to conjure up a physical form. Sure enough, she started giving it a try without a second thought.

Those around the tablet waited in tense seconds, wondering if it would work. Ellidy was confident in his skills and was sure Nicole was just getting used to her new features. Finally, the tablet floated out of Kor's hands as a familiar form began to take shape. Sally and Amy held their hands to their mouths in surprise as Nicole finally finished taking in her physical form. Nicole herself looked more or less the same, except for one new addition. In addition to her hair being down like it usually was, she had two long cords that extended from the back of her head and ended in two-pronged plugs that reached down to her thighs. The A.I. was rather surprised by this, taking a moment to study the new appendages.

Ellidy blinked as he did a double-take. "Hmm, that's a strange new addition."

"I think she looks beautiful either way." Kor stated warmly.

Once she was finished checking herself out, the female lynx practically glomped the engineer. "Thank you Kor...thank you..."

He hugged her back "You should thank Ellidy too dear. Without him, none of this would be happening."

"Hah, you're starting to make my blush myself." Ellidy chuckled.

Nicole then hugged her creator. "Thank you doctor, for everything."

Ellidy returned the gesture. "Always glad to be of service."

Sally finally came down from her shock. "Kor, I'm sorry for getting annoyed at you. I had no idea you had this planned!"

"That was the point. I was thinking about telling you, but I wasn't sure if you'd keep quiet about it." The engineer smirked.

The princess was now rightfully irritated. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Sonic gave a small laugh. "He's got ya there Sal. Sometimes you aren't that good at hiding stuff."

"Oh hush..." The chipmunk retorted, face turning red from embarrassment.

"By the way Julie, where's Knuckles?" Kor asked.

"He decided to stay back on Angel Island, still guarding that emerald."

"Man, knucklehead really needs to learn to get out more." The Blue Blur joked.

"I'm pretty sure guarding a powerful gem like the _Master Emerald_ is a full time job Sonic." The pink echidna countered.

"Still didn't stop him from helping us." Sonic retorted.

By now, Ellidy parted off to go get something to snack on. While Sonic and Julie kept debating (to the point Sonic teased the former brotherhood member about Knux being a potential love interest), Amy and Honey got to talking about fashion ideas. Kor walked off a minute later, wanting to poke around. Sally took the time to talk with her best friend, expressing her happiness at being able to finally talk face to face without the need for a monitor.

As the engineer walked around, he spotted a familiar looking chameleon keeping watch on a small bee, even though his eyes were closed. Said bee was talking non-stop while gorging himself on candy.

"I feel like I remember you from somewhere..." Kor stated as he approached.

"I took part in the Chaos Emerald Championship, like you did." The reptile stated, eyes still closed.

"Oh, right. What was your name...Es?"

"Espio."

"Ok, so how ya been since then?"

"After getting back with my team, work was rather slow. We gave our support to Sally when she had planned to fix the world, but she never stated _when_. If I'm guessing correctly, something happened and forced her to change plans." Espio finally glanced at him.

"Yeah...long story short, Eggman found out on our plans an' attacked us early. The Sky Patrol was heavily damaged by the Battle Birds, we lost the emeralds _and_ the keys, and Chip was kidnapped. But, thanks to some careful planning, we stopped Eggman and put the world back together. Seriously, that whole event was both adrenaline rushing and traumatizing..."

"Ahhhh I love candy!" The bee exclaimed, then noticed Kor. "Hey Espio, whose your new friend? Can he be my friend too?! Can he?! Can he?! Can he?!"

"Yes, Charmy. Now please, stop asking." The ninja ordered.

"Yay!" Charmy then buzzed around the engineer. "Hi, my name is Charmy of the Chaotix! Sure I may be small but I sure pack a mean punch! Espio here is usually a quiet guy and Vector always bosses me around, but I really help keep the team together!" The child bee continued to ramble on and on at that point.

Kor got visibly disturbed. Turning to Espio, "Does he always do that?"

"You eventually learn to tune it out."

"And whose Vector?"

The chameleon pointed to the green crocodile on the stage. "He's the leader of our group. Occasionally his antics get us into trouble, but he means well...most of the time..."

"Right...so, how come you lost to Bean?" Kor smirked. His grin increased when Espio visibly flinched.

"Can we _not_ talk about that?"

"Aw come on Es. I gotta know how someone as calm as you lost to that nutjob."

"Uuughhh..." The ninja groaned, making Kor laugh. "I wish people would quit bringing that up..."

"Just messin' with ya son. But, I should get going, need to keep an eye on someone."

Charmy finally stopped babbling long enough to listen. "Besides your girlfriend?" He questioned, making Kor blush a little. "Hah! Kor's got a girlfriend! Kor's got a girlfriend! Kor's got a girlfriend! Kor's got a-" Espio promptly clamped the kid's mouth shut, much to Charmy's annoyance.

"Well, n-not really her, but the Desert Raiders actually."

"For what purpose? Aren't they Freedom Fighters too?"

"Supposedly," Kor then grew serious, "but after doing some digging I found they aren't exactly who they say they are..."

"Want to elaborate?" The chameleon asked, trying to keep Charmy from flying off as his muffled pleas fell on deaf ears.

"Nothing to worry about. Just gonna ask them a few questions." The engineer stated before walking off.

He walked among the crowd, spotting Team Dark along the way. Shadow and Omega seemed disinterested while Rouge was the only one who looked to be having a good time. He also spotted Cream, an older version of her who he assumed to be her mother, Gemerl, and Big at a table. Bunker was with Cinder by the buffet table along with Tails. Kor still had no clue where Rotor, Antoine, or Bunnie were, but right now it wasn't something he should worry about. He finally spotted a familier set of orange quills, and sure enough, Sonar and Trevor were with Spike. The trio were talking with Mighty and Ray.

"So I grabbed that bot by its leg and tossed it into the cliff wall like nothing." Mighty told them.

"Sonic sure seems to attract a lot of trouble huh?" Spike chuckled.

"Yeah, but with friends like us he's got nothing to worry about." Mighty stated.

"One part you left out was that Xi wasn't completely dead." The group turned to the voice. Mighty and Ray formed smiles while the Raiders had a fake/uneasy smile on.

"Heh-ey Kor! Nice to see ya man." Mighty shook his hand.

"Glad y'all could make it. Enjoyin' the party?"

"Yep! Best one I've been to in y-years. Actually, might be the o-only one." Ray replied.

"So how's things been going since the world got fixed?" The engineer started.

"Good. Earthquakes finally stopped down in the jungle." Mighty stated.

"Not much change in Shamar, though I remember seeing something flying into the sky." Sonar added.

"That was probably one of the temples. Chip used them to defeat Dark Gaia and finally put an end to that jigsaw puzzle. But in other news, any issues with the Egg Army?"

"Nah. After Knuckles and Amy dropped in, they won't be in the mood to do much of anything, or hear anything." The armadillo and flying squirrel chuckled at that notion.

"Eh, same old same old." Trevor stated. "Wish I could see well so I could enjoy the party more."

"Funny you should say that Trevor, cause you guys didn't _see_ much of an issue luring me and mah friends into those ambushes back in Shamar that night." Kor grinned, causing Mighty and Ray to give a questionable stare while the Raiders went stiff.

"W-What do you mean Kor?" Sonar asked, a little _too_ sweetly.

"Oh nothing, just that I heard you guys talking with Nephthys on a phone or whatever." The fox held his smirk. The color on the Raider's faces started to drain.

"Woah woah Kor. Don't you think that's a wild accusation?" Mighty asked.

"No, it's not. See I had some suspicions when we first arrived in Shamar. Sonic said he never knew you guys or seen you before, in normal cases would've been fine because it's not uncommon of people fighting against the Eggman Empire. But there's one key difference: at least ONE of the Freedom Fighters knew the someone in that respective cell. Heck, we never knew any of Dulcy's friends but Sonic and Sally sure knew Dulcy. However, you guys _seemed_ like a good bunch so I didn't say anything. But what really got my attention was during that raid on the Egg Army base. There was _no possible way_ they would've known we were here. Yeah, they had extra guards set up since they knew we were in the area, but they didn't know _when_ we were coming. So, the only plausible thing as to why those ambushes occurred, was a spah in our ranks." Kor explained, the last part being laced with venom as his face contorted into a glare.

The Raiders knew they had been found out, especially since Kor referred to their Egg Boss friend by her actual name. Getting caught was always something they were afraid of, though retribution from Eggman was the _least_ of their worries right now. They knew first hand how Kor had decimated the Mid-Esta Egg Army's ranks years before, though it was such an event that allowed them to perform this stunt in the first place. But now, being within feet of the angry engineer made them worry immensely on what he planned to do. Mighty and Ray seemed unconvinced at first, but with the way Kor explained it, he also had their support as they gave accusing looks at the so-called 'freedom fighters'.

"So, let's talk. Why did you do it?"

Spike gave a heavy sigh. "...Years before, the Egg Army had a solid grip on the region, pillaging from anyone they could and taking over everything in Eggman's name. At one point, it go so bad Sonic's group came and beat them out of Shamar. They suffered a lot in their ranks, but then you came and effectively crippled them. I'm not sure if you were even part of the Freedom Fighters at that point, because I didn't take them to be ruthless."

"I wasn't. I was on a contract at the time. I didn't actually meet Sonic face-to-face until a few months ago." Kor stated, still keeping his hardened gaze.

"Well...Sonic and his friend's efforts truly did inspire us to fight back...but then we were concerned about what Eggman would do when he found out. Back then, Nephthys wasn't even part of the Egg Army, but she got the idea that, if she could climb through the ranks, all of us could hold the area in a stalemate so Eggman wouldn't think nothing of it, and have some sort of peace."

"And as such, Nephthys replaced the original Egg Boss due to Eggman thinking he was too incompetent, so you 3 and her army have been playing tug-o-war since then? Mainly not to draw Eggman's attention?" The fox asked, to which they nodded. By now a few others were overhearing the conversation.

Kor sighed. "Well, since it's been working, I suppose I can't be _too_ angry with you. But you guys know if Eggman ever finds out about this, the results won't be pretty, right?" They nod again. "Ok. But let me be brutally honest with you 3: I DO NOT like spies, period. From where I come from, they always try to knife you in the back when you least expect it, which in turn helped me learn to pick up their mannerisms. Hell, even when Rouge gave me contracts I didn't trust her much for that reason, she didn't seem to mind though. But let me make this perfectly clear...if any of my friends did get seriously hurt during that mission besides myself, y'all wouldn't be alive right now..." The engineer let this thought sink into their heads. "Now, y'all can continue to do your thing with Nephthys, but next time any of my friends stroll through the area, don't even think about leading them into an ambush, or..." Kor then made a notion of putting an imaginary gun into his head and blowing his brains out. He even gave a small laugh afterwards.

The Raider's nodded again before Kor strolled off. "H-How Sonic is friend's with someone like t-that, I'll n-never know..." Sonar quipped in fear.

"Well, to be fair, Sonic has friends like Shadow." Mighty answered.

"Who is he again?" Trevor asked.

Kor walked over to the buffet table and asked for a can of soda. He would get a beer but it wouldn't bode well if he was a bit tipsy while angry.

"Judging by that look, I'd say you wanted to put them down right then and there." A voice teased.

The fox turned and saw a certain G.U.N. agent with a playful look adorned on her face. "What do you want Rouge?" Kor asked, the irritation clear in his voice.

"Oh calm down, I just want to talk. Or do you not want to because I'm a spy?" She took a sip of the martini she was holding.

"You're hard to read sometimes, that's what I didn't like about you. Doesn't help you're always a tease."

The bat just shrugged. "Comes with the job hon. But, you did like what you saw back in those days."

Kor became flustered at this. "That's because two years ago I was still a sociopathic gun for hire without female companionship. Things changed."

"If your recent exploits are anything to go by. But what has me curious is this: you said you've been stabbed in the back several times. How does one get into such situations over 2 years hmm?" She smirked.

"It wasn't on Mobius. It was...somewhere else...look I ain't willin' to talk to just anyone about my life before the last 2 years."

"Well, maybe I can change your mind." Rouge winked at him.

Kor became flustered and shocked at the same time, not believing this bat girl was willing to go that direction. Thankfully, someone stepped in to save him.

"Sorry to intrude Rouge, but I think Shadow wants to speak with you." Nicole stated sweetly.

"He probably wants to ditch this place. Not surprising really." Taking another sip she walked off.

Once she was out of earshot, the lynx dawned an annoyed look, hands clenched into fists as her arms locked to her sides. "Oooh...who does she think she is?"

"Pretty sure she does that with a lot of guys, Knux the most from what Sonic told me."

"Still, the way she...the way she..." The A.I. was having trouble finding the right words. "It's difficult to express how I feel right now..."

"I believe it's called 'jealousy' sweetie."

"But...why should, or more so would I, be jealous?" The lynx now seemed unsure of herself.

"Number of possible reasons, but only thing I can think of, is you didn't want someone else putting moves on your boyfriend." He smirked, making Nicole blush a bit.

"...Would you have gone after her back then?"

"Maybe." This didn't help the lynx's spirits. "But I highly doubt it would work out cause, like I told the Raiders, I'm not fond of spies. Plus Rouge seems to like jewelry more than anything. And while she may have a pretty face, your personality is second to none." Kor assured her. In response, Nicole pecks him on the cheek.

Elsewhere in the crowd, a ground hog was looking among the crowd. Judging by the uniform he was wearing, one would assume he was part of the some important business. But, looks can be deceiving. His eyes were actually robotic, along with one of his hands, and tail. Now, this wasn't a byproduct of attempted roboticization, but rather, he had this done to him willingly.

Suddenly, the hog's phone beeped. He answered. "Yeah?"

"Is everyone still enjoying themselves?"

"Yes. I doubt they'll suspect a surprise attack."

"Good. Some of our Armored Core is almost towards the city. Eggman just wants us to make a mess of the place and ruin a 'perfectly good time' as he puts it. You did good, now leave before someone grows suspicious."

"Noted. Be advised, I noticed what looked to be some sort of combat AFV driving around. It looks like it's got missiles, but with small autocannons. Shouldn't be much of a problem though."

The ground hog then took his leave. He looked up and noticed a black dot flying above. Zooming in slightly, he saw what appeared to be an insect of some sort. However, he thought nothing of it and made his way to his comrades. This would prove to be a mistake, as that black dot was actually Hornet patrolling around the city's airspace. It would occasionally zoom in to look at the party below, spotting its creator and other allies, but for the most part it kept to itself. On its HUD, it also spotted Terry roaming around the northern part of town.

The gunship kept at its normal pace, but right as it got to the western edge of the town, it got a few pings on its radar from that direction. Faint, but it was still enough to draw its attention. Doing a quick check, its radar told the drone they were ground contacts. Normally, it would only pick up such things if it was a significant threat like a tank or troop vehicle. It used to pick up cars before Kor tweaked it, realizing how much of a mistake that was. Wanting to verify this, the gunship headed away from the city. Flying about 30 miles out, it stopped once it noticed a large dust cloud being kicked up on the ground. Zooming in, Hornet was surprised to see 20 tanks in a V-formation, back by a score AFVs, and they looked pretty advanced. It was also clear who they belonged to with the Eggman logo plastered on the sides. Very quickly, the Hornet about-faced and sped back to the city, trying to ring up its master.

Nicole was chatting with the other freedom fighters at a table when an audible noise was heard. Nicole looked around for a moment before realizing it was coming from her tablet. Confused, she pulled it up and found Hornet was calling. _"Why is Hornet calling me and not Kor?"_ She wondered. She answered and Hornet's grunting caught the attention of everyone at the table.

"Nicole? Something wrong?" Sally asked.

"Wait...is that Hornet?" Kor asked.

"It is, but I'm not sure why it-" The lynx paused for a moment. Surprisingly, she understood just about everything the gunship was saying. "It's saying it spotted 20 enemy tanks, backed by support vehicles, heading towards the city from the west!"

" _Tanks?"_ Tails asked.

"Where would tanks be...oh wait, ah think ah I know where." Bunnie stated. "Back when I was undercover in Metropolis, I remember seeing quite a few tanks parked around."

"Guess Eggman doesn't want us to gloat about the fact we beat him." Sonic chuckled. "Well, this party is hitting the road then. Anyone up for busting some armor?"

 **A/N: And that's enough for now. I would make a segment about how the heroes engage the Egg Army, but I'll leave that for the next chapter. Also, Nicole's new look is based off some drawings I've seen on Deviant Art. Not sure why people gave her extended plugs, though I suspect it's a reminiscent of the way her hair was before the Cosmic RetCon.**


	19. Big Dreams Equal Big Plans

**A/N: And welcome back to another chapter of the New Age! Last time, the heroes were partying in celebration of once again saving the planet. Even Nicole was given a second chance at living like a regular mobian. But, things were cut short as it seems the Egg Army from Metropolis launched a surprise attack towards Mobotropolis. Or, it would've been a surprise had they not been detected quite a ways from the city. Also, what will happen from then? Let's see shall we?**

 **Disclaimer: All characters belong to Sega and Archie except my OC. TF2 references belong to Valve.**

It didn't take long for the heroes to mobilize. Their goal was simple: do enough damage to the incoming enemy armor to force them to retreat, or destroy everything. Most of them took off the moment they had the chance, with Kor lagging behind for a moment to ensure Terry and Hornet had enough ammunition to ensure a victory. Plus, he needed to grab the missile launcher that utilized Javelin-type anti-armor projectiles. Tails also needed to grab the Tornado. After that, the engineer hopped on Terry and the two raced out to catch up quick. Hornet and Tails followed in the air, keeping low to avoid visual detection.

Before they even arrived, Sally was already formulating a strategy. Surprisingly, she even asked Kor if he had an idea (likely given with the whole Highway of Death incident). At first, Kor wanted to put on a show for everyone to make up for his slack in helping with the party, though Sonic immediately shot it down, stating "You can't have _all_ the fun to yourself." So instead, it was decided Tails and Hornet would move in first for an air attack, then Terry would attack from the right flank on top another hill. The position would give it the sight lines needed for shots at the weaker side armor of the tanks. And in the ensuing confusion, everyone else could close in.

The plan worked near flawlessly. The Egg Army had been taken by complete surprise as they hadn't expected the heroes to know of their approach so soon. Tails and Hornet destroyed 6 tanks and 5 AFVs in one pass. Soldiers and robots poured out with anti-air weapons, but before they could fire, Terry emptied its missile silos, destroying another 4 tanks and started opening up with its rocket mortar. The remaining tanks turned their turrets and fired at the ground drone, but couldn't make solid hits due to the hill being used as cover. However, the AFV was getting a little frustrated due to its rockets failing to penetrate the armor on some of the tanks, forcing it to constantly switch weapons. The enemy AFVs though, were easy targets.

The distraction allowed Sonic and Shadow to get close and harass the Egg Army before the others followed shortly. All combatants with guns made sure to watch their fire. The assault lasted only 5 minutes before the Egg Army turned tail and retreated west. All they had left were just a handful of AFVs that had their weapons disabled. A large amount of soldiers had been left behind to be taken prisoner.

Sonic kicked a destroyed badnik like a soccer ball. "Nothin' like a good ol' fashion beatdown to end a party."

"You can say that again!" Vector agreed.

"Should we chase down the runners?" Mighty asked.

"No. They know they stand no chance against us, and trying attack us now would be suicidal." Shadow pointed out.

"And I doubt the princess would mind us taking some of these troops in for questioning." Rouge grinned.

Sally, Amy, Honey, Julie-Su, Nicole, Big and Gemerl were tying up the rest of the soldiers. Terry and Omega kept their weapon trained on them in case they tried to run. Sally called up the Royal Guard to arrange some transports, seeing as none of the AFVs around them were nothing but smoking husks.

Kor was practically reveling in the sight of destroyed vehicles. It reminded him so much of his best days, even back when Gray's robot hordes were alive and a well oiled force. The fox especially liked it when the turrets popped off the tanks due to ammo rack detonation. However, he noticed that 3 tanks looked like they were still drivable. Walking up and around the scattered armor, he noted two of them were disabled due to bullet hits on their engine decks, and the last one took a ton of hits but looked to be fine. Cautiously, he climbed onto it and carefully opened one of the hatches. There was still the possibility the crew may have survived. However, it became pretty clear they didn't. Inside the tank, blood was splattered around on the walls, the crew having pieces of metal and small holes in them. The driver was no different. Just looking at it made the engineer grimace a little.

"Find something Kor?" Julie asked as she approached.

"Welp, those other two tanks have broken engines, probably from either Hornet, Tail, or Omega. And this one...just look at the driver."

The pink echidna poked her head in the hatch. "Ugh!" She stumbled off the tank with haste, fighting the urge to puke. "What happened to these guys?!"

Kor looked closer at the scorch marks on the tank. None of the hits went through the armor. "Given these marks, I guess Terry hit this tank several times out of frustration and stopped when it didn't seem to respond. The rockets didn't punch through, but apparently the constant vibration and explosions caused severe spalling."

"Poor basterds...well, they had it coming. What do you want to do with these tanks?"

"I volunteer to destroy them." Omega stated as it approached.

"Tempting, but I'm thinking of analyzing their armor. Would be useful in making a round for Terry that could punch through the front of these things. Also, I've never driven a tank before." Kor replied.

The former brotherhood member shrugged. "Alright. Better ask Sally though."

"HEY SAL!" Kor yelled.

"WHAT?"

"I WANT TO TAKE 3 OF THESE TANKS BACK TO THE AIR FIELD!"

"WHAT?! WHY?"

"I WANNA SEE WHAT KIND OF STUFF THEIR MADE OF!"

"Uh...FINE, BUT HOW ARE YOU GONNA GET ALL 3 OVER THERE?"

"THESE TANKS GOT TOW LINES. TWO HAVE DEAD ENGINES BUT I COULD DRIVE ONE. Though I gotta figure out how to drive it." Kor muttered the last part. He turned to Julie-Su. "Wanna help me remove these bodies?"

"I don't feel like getting covered in blood today."

The engineer shrugged. "Suite yourself, but bring one of those soldiers over here, preferably a driver." He pulled the dead tank driver out before discarding him among the scrap metal, doing the same to the other two later.

The pink echidna complied. She dragged a tank driver over and he whole-heartedly instructed the red fox how to drive the 40-ton war machine. Kor motioned Terry over, Espio helping him hook up one of the tow lines to the back of it. Rotor and Antoine did the same to the second disabled tank. They also made sure to put the transmission into neutral so the tanks wouldn't drag across the ground. Terry struggled for a few moments before it managed to get a steady pace going to pull the tank.

Kor climbed into the driver seat of the still active tank. "Ugh... my God the smell...so gonna have to shower after this..." Good thing he was leaving the hatch open. Pressing a few buttons, the armored beast was up and running before it followed the ground assault drone.

Hours passed after the incident. None of the others civilians at the party knew of the little battle that took place, though the festivities died out a bit when the heroes left. However, they all made it back just in time for the fireworks to go off. One blast in particular had the shape of Chip, a tribute to the now sleeping Light Gaia. Sonic explained in a speech how it was the little guy's bravery and abilities that were crucial in saving the planet, and while Chip was unable to be with them, he would always be remembered.

By now, it was dark out. Most were gearing up for sleep or still doing whatever, but the Royal Guard was on alert in case of another surprise attack. Even Hornet was out poking around tonight. Kor himself was inspecting two of the tanks standing outside his hangar. One of them had been airlifted out on G.U.N.'s request to get a better look at it themselves. The engineer was still figuring out how to cut off a segment of armor so it could be analyzed, but as time went on he decided to shelve the idea for the night. Maybe the United Federation had something he could use.

Closing the hangar door (and bidding Terry a good night), the engineer did something he was well known for in his old days. The fox planted 4 sentries around the tanks as a make-shift security system. Bristling with dual-miniguns and a rocket pod in the rear, these old machines were still a good deterrent for keeping pests at bay. The fox yawned as he headed home, which sat only two blocks away from the airport. Now that he thought about it, Kor didn't really know where the others lived, well besides Sally and Nicole for obvious reasons. Speaking of the latter, he was reminded he needed to take a shower as the lynx stated she wouldn't touch him until he groomed himself.

The house Kor was given was rather simple: one story house with a master bedroom and a guest room. Not as fancy as a hotel he stayed at once but it was a lot better than sleeping on a desk. Kicking his shoes off and discarding his pants and gloves, the fox walked into the bathroom, getting the bath water ready. While this was happening, he looked over himself in the mirror. He was still covered in dry red spots, the blood of the dead tank operators. No visible injuries noted, except the one that went over his left eye. Kor grimaced a little as that memory from that night in Yurashia played in his mind. He would admit he did enjoy killing, but he was never a savage about it. He also began to wonder what Conquering Storm was doing now. No doubt she saw the letter he left, but there was no telling if she'd be plotting revenge or whatever it was she did.

Stepping into the shower, the engineer let a sigh escape him as the warm water released some of the tension in his muscles. The water ran red as blood was washed clean from his fur, along with some dirt and mud that had been stuck for a while. As he scrubbed himself, Kor's mind kept thinking like clockwork. He wondered if it was some sort of curse he had, constantly thinking about new things or ideas. Might be due to his job description, but it did irritate him at times because it didn't allow him to sleep.

Among his thought process, he played over the events of today's battle. From what he could remember, besides the Battle Birds, the Egg Army from Metropolis was the most advanced mechanized unit he had ever seen. They had badniks he nor the others heroes had witnessed before, and although they were utterly cut to pieces, they still put up some resistance. From what Bunnie stated, this branch didn't have an Egg Boss, only responding to the doctor himself. There was a Foreman though. Hell, the tanks they had were pretty damn advanced too. Sonic said the city got rocked by a major earthquake when they last left it, but it seems they managed to reorganize their ranks since they were able to pull this latest stunt. Even the Royal Army in comparison was practically insignificant. Sure they had some rifles here and there, and possibly some anti-armor weapons, but they had no tanks of their own. Didn't help with the two coup de tats the kingdom went through. He was rather surprised they could last this long, but to be truthful, Kor thought it was due to the Egg Army being poorly trained.

Eggman's Empire was still a growing threat wherever it was based, and if they didn't take care of issues at home first there would be major problems. From what the engineer understood, the Egg Army on Westside only had that one city on the western end of the island as their base. If they could somehow drive them out, it would do some good in the long run by not having to worry about Eggman's forces defiling the hero's home. But, in order for this to happen, they would need a bigger army, one capable of dealing with a mechanized force. Hornet and Terry are equipped for such a task, but they wouldn't be enough. The Freedom Fighters might be up for the job, but considering they had few weapons to take on an armor of that force and preferred close quarters combat, this wouldn't bode well.

Kor squinted his eyes as he tried to come up with a solution for this. It was then that a another memory came to him, his eyes widening. His old enemy, Gray Mann. That rich basterd had a huge amount of robots based off the engineer and his colleagues. The variety of weapons, various robot sizes, and even large specialized robots...hell, the giant versions of some of the regular robots also had _giant_ weapons to go with them: giant rocket launchers, grenade launchers, even a giant minigun of all things. The more the fox thought about it, the more things started to fall into place.

"If I can somehow get whatever remains of Gray's robots to this world, that's a very quick makeshift army with enough firepower to give the Egg Army a real challenge. Hopefully that dead coot has some of them remaining somewhere...but even then, where would I stage them at permanently? The air field is _way_ too small for the amount I tend to use, and I doubt there's another base somewhere else on the island..." His fingers drummed on the wall. "Then again, this is called the Acorn _Archipelago._ Maybe there's another island big enough to make a base on." Noticing his fur becoming way too saturated for his liking, Kor shut the water off. He could think about it more in the morning.

 **-The Following Morning-**

The flickies chirped happily as the suns rays baked the city, welcoming its inhabitants to another beautiful day. No attacks occurred throughout the night thankfully, the Royal Guard making sure the civilians get their much needed sleep. It was around 9:30, and Kor was beginning to stir. Twisting his body, he smiled a little as his spine cracked and repositioned. Rolling onto his left side, he almost jumped out of his skin as his eyes locked with a pair of emerald-green ones.

"Morning sleepy head." Nicole giggled. Instead of her usual attire, the lynx as dressed in purple bed wear with a flowered pattern.

"H-Hey N-Nikki. How'd you get in here?"

"You left your front door unlocked. Not really the safest thing to do. Also, I see you cleaned up nicely."

The fox chuckled. "You know it." He pecked her on the nose. "Also I'm glad you stopped in, cause I wanted to ask you something.

Nicole's smile turned into a confused look. "On what?"

"I'll tell ya over breakfast. You want anything or...wait...right..." He frowned.

Nicole knew what he meant. Even though she had a physical form, an A.I. didn't need the necessities to survive like most people do. Calmly, the lynx put a hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry Kor. We'll figure something out eventually." She smiled sincerely.

"Yeah, eventually..." He got up to change.

Nicole picked up her PDA and walked out to explore the house a little. Once she was out the room she changed back into her day attire. _"A little small, but I'm sure he doesn't mind. I don't think Kor was one to be big on wardrobe."_ She noted, eventually stopping in the kitchen.

Minutes later, Kor came into the kitchen wearing his usual camo pants. As he poked through the fridge. "Westside is part of an archipelago right?"

"Yes. It and the neighboring South Island are the two biggest islands in the chain. There are dozens of smaller ones but not exactly fit for habitation."

Kor paused for a moment, taking out a chocolate muffin. "As far as you know dear, are there any other areas on this island that Eggman had influence on?"

"Plenty. Aside from Metropolis, which you already know, there's the Chemical Plant Zone and the Oil Ocean Zone."

"Wait, Oil Ocean?"

"Mmhmm. The valley in that area is flooded with the oil from various oil rigs that had been ruptured. Years ago, Eggman was using them for his plans, but decided to destroy them to slow down Sonic. The oil greatly damaged the environment, but luckily the oil itself is trapped in the valley so it can't leak into the ocean."

"I see." Kor replied. _"That area's gonna be useful later on. Those bots need oil, and so do Terry and Hornet..."_ The fox thought to himself. "What about the Chemical Plant Zone?"

Nicole sat in a chair and pulled up some info. It was on holographic display so Kor could also see it. "It's roughly a generalized plant that Eggman used to make various toxic chemicals before it was shut down due to the Freedom Fighters. It's been abandoned since, though there's still the possibility of the Egg Army using it..."

"Not a pleasant thought..." Kor bit into the muffin. "What about South Island? Know anything?"

"Hmm..." Nicole closed the info for the Chemical Plant and pulled up info on South Island. "Aside from being the only other biggest island in the archipelago, Eggman used to have some bases there. It was also the island Sonic first went on his adventure to stop Eggman from what Sally told me once. South Island also has an odd history of constantly moving around the ocean, an effect of the chaos emeralds. However, according to satellite photos it's ceased its movement since the earth was put back into place, leaving its location 48 miles to southwest of Westside."

"Interesting. So went on there?"

"Eggman had two bases of operation called the Scrap Brain Zone and the Final Zone. Both were industrialized cities filled with death traps as well as many factories. The doctor also had a few underground facilities like the Scrambled Egg Zone and the Underground Zone."

"Wait, so the area is literally called the _Underground_ Zone?..."

"The name isn't exactly noteworthy I know, but that's its name."

"Ok...any other places of interest?"

"Well, there's the Star Light Zone, which is a small city inhabited by mobians, there's the Labyrinth Zone, though I wouldn't recommend going there as it's partially submerged in water. The Star Light Zone is about 20 miles from the Scrap Brain Zone, which thankfully it, like the rest of Eggman's facilities there, are abandoned."

"Ok. Sounds awesome." The fox finished his muffin.

"If you don't mind me asking, why did you ask all of those questions?" Nicole asked, a questioning yet stern look on her face.

"Well..." He took a seat next to her. "Last night while showering I had a lot of thoughts running in mah head. It just bothered me how you guys have to deal with the Egg Army trampling on your home island, so I want to...I want to at least do _something_ to drive them out of here. As long as that city is still in their hands, they'll continue to be a threat. I'm pretty sure you guys would love to have some big breathing room knowing the Egg Army isn't affecting things at home."

Nicole took a moment to process this. "That's a good point, but Kor you realize you can't just go in and attack the Egg Army like they're nothing. Metropolis is _bristling_ with defenses on top of whatever advanced weaponry they have. Even Bunnie had a hard time just getting in to do her undercover work. It would be possible to mount an assault if we still had the Sky Patrol, but now..."

"I know that sweetie. That's when a memory came to me last night. Remember my old foe that I told you guys about months ago?"

"His name was...Gray I think?"

"Yeah. He had a HUGE robot army based on myself and mah war buddies. They had a wide array of weapons like we did and usually attacked in large groups, sometimes up to 300 or more in a single wave. There were also these giant versions of the regular sized robots, and their weapons were _big_ , like the giant robot soldiers had rocket launchers the size of a human car."

The lynx's eyes widened in surprise. "From the way you describe it, I'm...actually surprised you're still alive after all of that."

"Well, heh, 1) We don't die easily, and 2) Them robots were pretty dim. But anyway, my idea was this: after that whole ordeal was done, I realized we only dealt with a slightly higher than average amount of bots. We didn't destroy all of the facilities since it wouldn't be necessary, and I'm pretty sure it's still abandoned. If so, I believe with some programming I can reawaken them and save them from a lifetime of living in the scrap heap. If the machines to build them are still there, then I could very easily build up an army to challenge Eggman's forces and potentially win. The only issue I have is where to place it all..."

"And how did you figure that?"

"Well, for one, the airfield is way too small and would get overcrowded easily, and I planned to move some of the robot's machinery to this world. But, with the information you told me, I may not need to."

Nicole blinked twice, trying to process all of this information. It was all sound in theory. If Kor did manage make all of this happen, the Freedom Fighters would have another huge ally to back them up, and they would have some decent protection at home. G.U.N. was a helpful ally, but it became an issue when the heroes really needed the extra help and the UF military was unable to do anything. However, would everyone approve of it? When you think about it, one person under the control of dozens of robots would remind someone of a certain tyrant hell bent on putting everyone under his thumb. Not that Nicole would even _think_ her boyfriend would become like Eggman, but that didn't mean the same for everyone else. On the other hand, it may help to change that image.

"Kor..." She placed one of his hands on his. "Whatever you decide to do, I will fully support it. But I recommend informing the others first in case they have second thoughts."

"Yeah...let's go ask Sal right now." They got up and walked out the house. "Hey, you think they might be too busy to help out?"

"Possibly. Rotor and Tails may get started on a new project they're doing, and from what Bunnie told us yesterday, Antoine is having some issues about his past that may need to be cleared up." Nicole explained. "Speaking of which, how long do you estimate it will take to actually gather the necessary resources?"

"Hmm...probably a couple months?" He said sheepishly. "We could just hope nothing sidetracks us."

 **A/N: And done. Now, things will really take off from here. I had the plot set up in my mind, but had writer's block trying to figure out how to word it. Also, sorry if I don't give much attention to the other characters, but they'll pop up here and there at some point.**


End file.
